Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, fundamentally, this is about which direction we want to move in as a country, as a Congress, as a responsible institution, as a government, in terms of whether we are going to respect the American people and their voice, whether we are going to turn their voice over to Big Money, to special interests that are hijacking our politics and our government. The problem with the proposal that is being put on the floor today is that it is moving us in the wrong direction. It is moving us away from the kind of disclosure information transparency in our political process that the American people are demanding. If you talk to the average person out there, they feel disrespected, locked out, left out, left behind, pushed to the margins of their own democracy, feeling as though Big Money calls the shots, the insiders rule the roost, and the average person has no voice, is of no consequence. They see the money being spent on these campaign commercials during election time. They don't know where it is coming from. They don't know what organizations are supporting it, and they feel like they don't have a stake in their own democracy anymore. What is interesting is that, you know, traditionally, in the past, Republicans had argued for more transparency and disclosure; that all political activity, all contributions that were made and all expenditures, should be divulged.…”