Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to this incredibly restrictive rule and to the underlying legislation. The lack of democracy and openness that exists in this House is evident when the House Rules Committee self-executes a 45-page manager's amendment to a 92-page bill and then makes in order only 5 of the other 36 submitted amendments. By the way, only one of those amendments made in order was offered by a Republican. This, of course, has all been done in the name of a bill cynically titled Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections Act. I've got a suggestion to my friends: How about strengthening democracy by actually allowing robust debate and unlimited amendments? That would actually help restore comity and bipartisanship to this polarized House. With that said, Madam Speaker, I would like to also address the underlying legislation. In this bill, the majority is engaged in a self-serving, hypocritical political exercise. The underlying legislation is a response to a 5-4 Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission case. Good people can disagree about that case and about its ramifications. However, when the majority party decides to reshape the political playing field with a bill written by its political tacticians and introduced by the chairman of its own campaign committee, we have reached a new low. The clear aim of this legislation is to tilt the political playing field in favor of the Democratic Party.…”