Political Quotes

“let me welcome everyone here and everyone watching at home to the Chamber of the U.S. Senate and to this historic first day of the 109th Congress. When the Senate family gathers, it is always a special occasion. But this is a day when the entire Senate family comes together and celebrates this unique institution that indeed binds us as one. So, for being here, I thank the distinguished Members of the Senate-- past, present, and near future--Senate friends and our beloved families, and our loyal and hardworking Senate staff. My colleagues, our roots as representatives of the people are not recent. They are ancient. They reach beyond the founding of our Republic, to our earliest days as colonies. The first legislative assembly in the New World gathered during the scorching summer months of 1619 on Jamestown Island, Virginia. Twenty-two burgesses, a governor and his council, a clerk, and a sergeant of arms met to propose and pass ``just laws for the happy guiding and governing of the people . . .''”