Political Quotes

“My distinguished colleague has mentioned that it is already against the law for an illegal to cast a vote. We understand this, but surely the gentleman knows that corruption is borne in the heart of man, not the mechanisms of man. We have a duty and a responsibility as Members of this Congress to oversee the actions of the Nation's Capital City and it is our duty to mitigate against the violation of law. We recognize that it is against the law for an illegal to cast a vote in a Federal election. We know this, but we also know that burglary is against the law, yet we have fences and gates and doors and locks. We mitigate against the actions of man, though, we know that some of those actions may be, indeed, against the law. The existence of the statute itself does not overcome the corruption born in the heart of man. We have an obligation as a body to exercise our constitutional jurisdictional authority in the one municipality in the entire country that falls under that constitutional jurisdictional authority; that is, our Nation's Capital as the city whose laws we address today. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Graves), my friend and colleague.”