Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, no matter what you think of S. 2155, one of the underlying bills being considered today, it is not what a clear majority of Americans want Congress to be doing. Madam Speaker, nobody is coming up to us in townhalls and asking Congress to deregulate large financial institutions. We are not going to a fish fry and hearing from people that they want us to dismantle important consumer protections. And nobody at VFW halls, Rotary Clubs, and PTA meetings thinks this bill should be Congress' priority. The reason this bill is on the floor is that the power brokers on Wall Street want it on the floor. It is their bill; it is not the people's bill. Our broken campaign finance system lies at the heart of this warped political system, where big money calls the shots in Washington. For starters, in this broken system, too many good candidates without access to big money are effectively barred from running altogether. Those who can make it through have to spend hours dialing for dollars, courting a narrow slice of the Nation's elite, while high-powered lobbyists and special interests are dictating legislation here in Congress, just like today. Most recently, these backroom power brokers used their influence to demand billion-dollar handouts for the wealthiest 1 percent from the GOP tax scam. Now they are once again tearing down critical rules to protect our financial system from another economic collapse.…”