Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for yielding and for taking the leadership in putting this Special Order together to discuss poverty in America. Before I get into some of the substance, I want to talk about this from a personal perspective. I have 11 older brothers and sisters. My father passed when I was 2. I was raised by a single mom. It was tough. But she always taught me the lessons of life that have carried me through, and that is to have a good attitude, a positive, optimistic attitude, a commitment to hard work, a commitment to discipline, and a commitment to respect our fellow man. So I come here to this floor this evening as a Republican to say to all of America: We care. We care about our fellow American citizens that are stuck in poverty for generations. As my colleague from Illinois had indicated, we have spent over $20 trillion out of the Federal coffers of hardworking American taxpayer dollars on the war on poverty. And the harsh reality is that war has been lost. The policies and the visions of old must change. We must attack this issue in a new model by, first, demonstrating to our fellow citizens that we do care, that we are not here to penalize, to judge, but what we are here to do is offer a new vision. I know my colleagues on the other side of the aisle often chastise us Republicans as people who want to take things away and that we don't really care about those people that are suffering in America.…”