Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for his kind remarks. Sometimes the largest things start in small ways, and the longest journey starts with a small step, and perhaps we are taking that step today, Mr. Broun. Storms teach us all sorts of things, and personal effort and caring matter a lot. The snowstorms that paralyzed this city a couple of weeks ago in some respects are a metaphor for what has been going on with the political and policy mechanisms that also occupy this city. I believe that in my home State, within a few hours of the storm being over, we would be out there starting to clean up, and we would be doing a reasonable job fairly soon. What happened here was paralysis for days at a time, schools closing for the rest of the week, and people complaining about the city not cleaning the streets. But what I noticed was that in my neighborhood, folks did shovel their sidewalks, and it makes a big difference. Just take care of your own sidewalk, and maybe help your neighbor, if your neighbor is old or just not able to do these things for him or herself. In the second storm, I actually offered to pay my son a little bit of money to shovel the whole block. Shoveling the block was the second most important thing to do. I think the most important thing to do was to teach him civic virtue and what serving the broader good is all about. This bill does serve the broader national good. The example of Chile demonstrates the importance of preparation.…”