Political Quotes

“I want to thank my very good friend, Judge Hastings of Florida. Thank you very much for your service to this country, Judge. Mr. Speaker, my comments, although critical, will be in no way personally critical of my very good friend from Oklahoma with whom I serve on the Appropriations Committee. He knows my very high regard for his integrity, his judgment, his character; and I value our friendship. I rise in opposition to this rule, not the Military Construction- Veterans part--because that is an open rule, that is not at issue--but with regard to the Legislative Branch. There are several amendments that should not have been made in order, should not, in my view, have even been taken seriously, but the reason I oppose it is particularly because there was an amendment that was not made in order that should be discussed on the floor of this House. I offered an amendment, a very modest one, to provide $25 a day to the Members in the form of a housing allowance for the days that we are in session--only the days we are in session. Now, we have been in session an average of 112 days per year recently, so that would have come out, not coincidentally, to exactly what our salaries would have been raised by, had there not been a freeze included in this Legislative Branch Appropriations bill. Frankly, it is an incentive for the Congress to be in session more days, but it is far more important than that.…”