Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to discuss a really outrageous abuse of power on the part of Members of this body, Members of the House, Washington officials in general. While imposing ObamaCare on everyone else, officials in Washington have largely exempted themselves from ObamaCare's most inconvenient aspects through yet another illegal Obama Executive action that created the Washington exemption from ObamaCare. Unfortunately, this is not a new practice on the part of the Washington elite. Washington lawmakers often create or support exemptions for themselves from the laws they pass on everyone else. This undemocratic practice dates back to the 19th century at least--the Civil Service Act of 1883; the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, coming into the 20th century; the Freedom of Information Act of 1966. The list goes on and on. As the late Representative Henry Hyde is famously quoted as saying many years ago, ``Congress would exempt itself from the law of gravity if it could.'' That is sadly true, and this practice must end. I have always believed the first rule of an American democracy should be that whatever Washington passes on America, it should have to live under itself--no special exemptions, no special subsidies, no special deals, no special treatment. This rule is important for two reasons. The first reason is basic fairness. It is simply not fair for a select group of elites to live by a different and more beneficial set of rules than everyone else.…”