Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman of the subcommittee for yielding me the time and I congratulate the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Bryant] and the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Gekas] for an extraordinary difficult job to be performed in this bill. Why do I say that? Because we are dealing with perception in this bill, in my opinion, more than reality. Members of this Congress and members of the legislative body that I served with in the past, the Senate of Maryland, are not subject to being influenced in their votes by the buying of meals or the playing of a golf game. The fact of the matter is, however, that we have had gridlock and we have not moved forward. My opinion is that it is largely a matter of philosophy. There are significant differences between the executive and the legislative branches. But our public has said the reason for it is that we have the special interests. The reason is that we have lobbyists. The reason is that we have some relationship with them that they do not feel is good. Now, there are some who want the perfect who will say, ``Let's not take the good.'' There are some who editorialize and write in that way. The common cause is moving forward, not having the perfect be the enemy of the good. I have had some involvement with this legislation. I believe it is a step forward.”