Political Quotes

“I feel as though the Presiding Officer has the misfortune of being the Presiding Officer every time I come out here to speak. So I apologize for that, but I thank you for your patience and for your indulgence. Madam President, when I was in the second grade, we were asked to line up in our classroom by the people whose family had been here the shortest period of time and whose family had been here the longest period of time, and I turned out to be the answer to both of those questions. My father's family went all the way back to basically before the founding of the United States, and my mother had recently arrived, having survived the Holocaust in and around Warsaw with her parents, John and Helena Klejman, who came to this country to rebuild their shattered lives. So one person going back to the beginning; another person recently arrived. That is not an unusual story for this country. That is a usual story for this country. It is an unusual story in the world because a lot of other countries aren't like the United States of America in this way. There is literally no other country on the planet for which immigration is so central to its history and identity as the United States of America. People all over the world want to come here because we live in a country that respects human freedoms and respects human rights. They want to share in the American dream. They want to be part of the oldest democracy in human history. We should celebrate that on this floor.…”