Political Quotes

“Mr. President, what is the purpose of the Senate? The authors of the Constitution laid the foundation of the Senate without really knowing what it would look like once it was standing. They knew it would rival and restrain the House of Representatives. After all, the Senate has a higher age requirement, Members serve 6-year terms, and they have to represent not just a district but an entire State. But it was clear from the beginning of the formation of the Senate that it would take time before the purpose of this body was truly realized. For several decades in our Nation's history, it was the House of Representatives--not the Senate--that hosted the great debates and introduced major legislation. It wasn't until the Nation began to splinter in the shadow of slavery that the Senate came into its own. While the rules of the Senate gave us its basic structure, it was the Members of the Senate--the people who made up this body--who had to stand up and lead. We remember them today as lions of the Senate: Daniel Webster, John Calhoun, and Henry Clay. This body owes its status to them and their leadership because they began to define the Senate in a way that no one had before. Over time, this place became one that valued bipartisanship, deliberation, and compromise. It has become a Chamber that balances the right to debate with demands for action.…”