Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I want to compliment the previous speaker, my friend, Mr. Shimkus, on the notion of process, calling up the notion of process. So here we have had a debate where we have sparred for the better part of an hour, and we are debating a topic on which there have been no hearings. Now, let me guess. This is consistent with how the tax bill was done in, incidentally, 51 days, without a hearing or without a witness. So we are being asked to vote on something today, here, on which there has been no opportunity to place the magnifying glass of critical scrutiny on the proposal that is in front of us because, the truth is, what is in front of us is a question about the mood of Congress. I think all 435 of us could testify to what the mood of Congress is right now, so I don't think it would be one of the more challenging events that we would confront. But the idea that this is brought in front of the Congress without any opportunity for anybody to examine the underlying legislation and the thrust of what the regular order might impel contributes to the frustration that the American people feel about the institution and its priorities. So as we have wrapped up this debate over a piece of legislation that will accomplish zip, zero, nothing, it literally does not matter how the vote turns out because the sole purpose of this resolution is to express, once again, the mood of Congress.…”