Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, it is my honor to be recognized by you to address you here on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. Recognizing the centuries of debate that have taken place before our Speakers over the years, every time that anyone has this privilege to address you and be heard by the Members of this House of Representatives and by, today, with our technology, all the people of the United States of America, it is an honor. And it is an honor that goes along with the vote card and with the endorsement of a majority of our constituents back in our various districts. I would say, Madam Speaker, that too often we don't think about how this mix works out; how our Founding Fathers had so much wisdom to put this together when it was 13 original colonies and there were far fewer seats in this House of Representatives than there are today; and yet, to put the mix together here so it is a voice from every corner of America. We started out with 13 original colonies--and I should have probably memorized how many House seats there were in the beginning--but it grew to 435 and then they capped it, because as the country got bigger if we had used that population balance, we would have many more seats here in the House of Representatives. Some would say that 435 is unmanageable; in fact, all of us would have said that on one day or another.…”