Political Quotes

“Madam President, to the speaker who has just finished speaking, before he leaves the floor, he and I share the same initials, TC, and in this case, we share the same views on an important issue. It is great to have the TCs--the Tango Charlies--speaking from the same hymn book. On a lighter note, some of the conversation here today is pretty serious. This is a serious matter, but I want to make it, maybe, a little bit lighter. I am reminded today of the words of Harry Truman, our former President, who used to say that the only thing new in the world is the history we forgot or never learned. The only thing new in the world is the history we forgot or never learned. I want to take, if you will--as Presiding Officer knows, every Tuesday, we have our caucus lunch, and the Republicans have theirs. Unfortunately, we don't dine together enough. But, at our caucus lunch, we have a history moment or a history minute--maybe a minute or 2. It is always one of the highlights, frankly, of the time we spend together. And I want to just look back a little bit in time as we take up, today, an issue that is right before us. As it turns out, the first Swedes and Finns came to America about 384 years ago. They themselves were from a place called Kalmar, Sweden. At the time, as we have heard from others who have spoken, Sweden and Finland were the same country. There was no Finland. All the Finns lived in Sweden, and they continued to live in Sweden for a good long time.…”