Political Quotes

“I must say I was a little surprised to hear my friend, the chairman of the Committee on Rules, say that one of the reasons we have to do this is that it makes for bad television. He said we have people calling up and complaining. I can think of some reasons to change the rules of the House, but ratings is not one of them. It does seem to me a grave error to say that because people are calling up and complaining that this has gotten boring, that we should change things. I also have to reject the notion that this is necessary because we cannot get the business of the House done. The House has been working at a very leisurely pace. We took off a week in the middle of October, an unscheduled recess, unscheduled from the beginning. We have on the majority side a preference for about a 2-day workweek as far as the House is concerned. We come in on Tuesday night and we go home on Thursday night. There are other things besides being in session that count, but the fact is we have run things at a very slow pace. We have adjourned early for Republican fundraisers.”