Political Quotes

“My daughter is on the way with my grandkids, who are trying to watch this. Maybe we can delay it a little more than that. Madam Speaker, I want to thank Ms. Lofgren for her leadership in the California delegation. She is the head of the Democratic side of the aisle in our caucus from California, the largest caucus just the Democrats alone. I would just like to point out what the politics of the West has done since I first got elected in 1975. I arrived here, and there were an even number of Democrats and Republicans representing California. Today there are 39 Democrats, and that is because the State has really shifted in their registration and voting. So the California Democratic delegation, it is interesting that Zoe is the chair of because it is the most diverse delegation in Congress: majority women, the highest delegation of Hispanics, of women, of Asians, and I would like to say with, Mike Honda and Mr. Garamendi and myself, the largest delegation of returned Peace Corps volunteers. It has been quite a change in the 23 years that I have been in Congress. I first arrived in 1993. I was the last guy in the door here because Leon Panetta, my predecessor, had been elected in the 1992 election, sworn in to the Congress that January; and then when President Clinton was sworn in for his first term, he turned around and appointed Leon Panetta to be head of the Office of Management and Budget. Leon resigns on that day, notifies Governor Wilson, who declares a special election.…”