Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, for the last 2 months, the House has been riven by the process of impeachment. It has been emotional, divisive, and challenging. If you noticed, many of the statements about impeachment started with some version of this: Impeachment is the most serious thing that Congress will do, other than declare war. Well, here we are. In the next day, in the next month, and in the next year, this body may be called upon to make decisions that will alter history and possibly send young men and women to their deaths or not. I say ``or not'' because, once again, I see Congress at risk of failing to stand up for the clear mandate placed on us by the Constitution, to which each and every one of us took an oath. There is no argument about our duty here. The language of the Constitution is plain: Congress shall have power to declare war, not Congress shall have power to declare war unless the President wants to retaliate against someone; not Congress shall have power to declare war unless a Syrian airbase needs destruction; not Congress shall have power to declare war unless our forces are attacked in the Tonkin Gulf. Congress shall have power to declare war. Period, full stop. Mr. Speaker, in the long run, this has nothing to do with our confidence in a particular President. It has everything to do with whether we take the obligations that Mr. Madison and Mr. Hamilton asked us to take seriously.…”