Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, it's been an interesting day here on the floor. And as always, an honor to have a chance to speak here. What we have just witnessed was not a pleasant event. It was terribly sad. It's tragic when anybody in Congress, especially a leader, a chairman, is found to have engaged in conduct inappropriate to such a degree as a Member of Congress, particularly as the chairman of the Tax Code- writing committee. We have heard some things that were a little bit surprising. I heard Chairman Rangel say there was no self-enrichment. I heard people talk about the lack of precedent for something like this, to have such a horrible sentence as to have to stand before the Speaker and be told to pay the taxes that were actually due and owing, or should have been paid previously when they were due and owing, and how horrible that was. So a little surprising that I would hear a fellow colleague make a comparison to the death penalty and life in prison. I have had the unenjoyable responsibility to sentence people to death before and to life in prison. And I would daresay you could bring back those sentenced to life--you couldn't bring back those sentenced to death where it's been carried out--but they would not agree that standing before the Speaker and being told to pay the taxes that you didn't pay back when you should have was anything equivalent and fair to be compared with a life sentence in prison.…”