Political Quotes

“I just left the Committee on Rules. Here we are on Wednesday of Reform Week and the Committee on Rules has stated that we are not going to do any reform this week. That is right, Reform Week. This is the week that we have been waiting for for an entire year when Members will have an opportunity to try to change the way Congress does business, to try to make it, for example, illegal for a Member of Congress who is indicted and convicted directly because of their official actions from collecting a pension. This was a week when we were going to deal with legislation that would prevent the revolving door where Members of Congress come in and serve for a set period of time and then go out the door and make millions and millions of dollars paid for by special interests. This was the Reform Week, Mr. Speaker, that we were going to do campaign finance reform, the most important reform that we could possibly enact if we are going to change the way Congress does business. The American people have been demanding campaign finance reform. We have seen throughout this legislative session an increase in the amount of money that special interest PAC's are contributing to Members of Congress.”