Political Quotes

“I appreciate the recognition. I appreciate you staying on the floor with me today. It has been a week of inside-the-beltway activity. I can't find a single Member of Congress on this floor--and I have been talking to a lot of them--who ran for Congress because they thought the most important job we were going to have was picking our House leadership. It is an important responsibility. It is an important job, Mr. Speaker. I can't tell you how difficult it is to lead 435 leaders. It is not a shortage of leaders we have here. Sometimes it is a shortage of good followers we have here. But nobody ran for Congress for that. You ran for Congress because we had serious business that the American people asked us to be about, and most of that business is not inside leadership conversations. It is about the American economy. It is about feeding one's family. It is about having a predictable future for one's children. It is about opportunity. I want to begin, Mr. Speaker, with three of the challenges that are out in front of us. The reason good leadership in this institution is important is because we have serious challenges. When I got here in 2011, we elected John Boehner Speaker of the House because John Boehner said we can do amazing things in divided government. We don't have to sit back and wait until we control all branches of government as Republicans. The Democrats don't have to sit back and wait until they control everything, Mr. Speaker.…”