Political Quotes

“one of the great things about being able to come to the floor and preside--as is the Presiding Officer, and it is something I have had the opportunity to do a lot--is that when you are in the Chair, you get to hear a lot about the home States of other Members of the Senate. A lot of Senators like to come to the floor, as they should, to talk about their constituents and talk about so many things that are happening throughout our country. We just heard the Senator from Arkansas talk about some local heroes in his State. He came to the floor to talk about them. Presiding, I have had the opportunity to hear many great stories: Vietnam veterans in North Dakota, great basketball from the Presiding Officer's State of Indiana, proud members of our military who live in Texas, and tight- knit communities in responding to disasters in States across our Nation. These are great stories and in many ways they are what make our Nation great; it is what makes our Nation strong. Hearing about all the wonderful communities we have, I certainly have learned a lot from listening to these speeches, and I encourage my colleagues to come and talk about their States and do a little bragging. That is what I am going to do for the next couple of minutes. My State, the great State of Alaska, has certainly captured the country's imagination in a lot of ways. It is hard to turn on cable TV without seeing a new show on Alaska, and for good reason.…”