Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I come to the floor today to offer a few reflections in these opening days--now opening weeks--of the 116th Congress. On January 3, I was honored to be sworn in as the 91st Senate President pro tempore. As many of you know, I love history. I studied to be a history teacher, and I have devoted six decades of my life to public service where, maybe, I helped make a little history along the way. I have represented the people of Iowa as a legislator since 1958. At the age of 25, as the youngest legislator in the Iowa State House, I never dreamed that one day I would be named a constitutional officer in the Senate. For the last 38 years, it has been my great privilege to serve and represent the people of Iowa as a Senator. It is with great pride on behalf of my home State that I step into this leadership role and follow in the footsteps of my predecessors as President pro tempore of the Senate. In fact, one of those predecessors is from my home State. It was 100 years ago exactly that Iowa Republican Senator Albert Baird Cummins became the 68th Senate President pro tempore. He served as President pro tempore from 1919 until 1925. In my nearly four decades here in the Senate, I served alongside seven Presidents pro tempore: Senator Thurmond, of South Carolina; Senator Stennis, of Mississippi; Senator Byrd, of West Virginia; Senator Stevens, of Alaska; Senator Inouye, of Hawaii; Senator Leahy, of Vermont; and Senator Hatch, of Utah.…”