Political Quotes

“Madam President, before I make a statement on another issue, I join the majority leader in his comments about the retirement of Lula Johnson Davis from the Senate. Before I came to the Senate, I was a Member of the House of Representatives for 14 years, and I greatly enjoyed that experience. It was certainly an amazing change to come from the House to the Senate, to move from one congressional district to representing the entire State, to move from a 2-year term to a 6-year term, to move from 434 colleagues to 99 fellow colleagues. All of these things took some getting used to, plus the fact that, in the House, you were constricted on the use of time for speeches on the floor, and in the Senate, there is almost no limit. If you want to speak forever, I think the Senate rules will accommodate you. Those changes all pale in comparison to the single biggest change I ran into here, and that was facing the secretary to the majority, Lula Johnson Davis. I knew that people throughout Capitol Hill on both the House and Senate sides at the staff level were extremely courteous, kind, and helpful. I found that throughout my career in the House, and I certainly found it in the Senate. But the good thing about Lula Davis was that she was respectful of Senators, but not deferential.…”