Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, we are all familiar with the expression that ``a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.'' Clearly, restoring the public's faith and confidence in this institution is a journey of a thousand miles. We take more than a single step here today. In fact, we take two major steps. First of all, we close the loopholes that have allowed most of the lobbyists in this town to not register. We bring them within the ambit of the lobbyist registration laws. Second, we say that anybody who is a registered lobbyist, whose business it is to influence Congress, cannot provide a financial benefit to the Member of Congress that they are trying to lobby. These are two very important steps forward. A word, very quickly, to our critics. If there is anything that I have heard in this body too much, it is, ``We did not go far enough. We did not go far enough in reducing the deficit. We did not go far enough in fixing this problem or that problem.'' However, we have to start somewhere. This bill does that, clearly.”