Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I thank the leader for yielding. You know, one of the untold stories of the House of Representatives is the connections that Members have with one another that really never show up, except among ourselves. I had a unique connection with Gabrielle Giffords, I still do, and that is when we came in in this class of 2006, we were both invited to participate, one on one or two together, in a series of interviews that was hosted by National Public Radio, the show All Things Considered. I had not met Gabrielle before that and we started this dialogue back and forth and really enjoyed that. And I found that she had this very refreshing and winsome approach, as we all know, to how she would handle herself and how she conducts herself. So it's really no surprise to me that we're hearing hopeful news about her medical condition based on a disposition of perseverance. And I thought that the conversations that I was involved in with her brought a brightness to public life and brought something that as I heard from constituents that would listen to her, they would say to me, I can see how you would like serving with people like that. And that is sort of the lost lead, I think, in some ways about the House of Representatives. We were heartsick on Saturday when we heard that news. I know many of my constituents who are to their knees in prayer for Gabrielle and for the victims of that shooting.…”