Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman very much. I will conclude by saying that what this bill is doing is seeking to usurp the powers of the President, particularly President Obama, and my friends on the other side, although I never attribute any malfeasance or bad intentions to Members that come on this floor, we never did this with President Bush. There was some question about signing statements, and some of us wanted to address the question of signing statements, but we never decided to be able to put on the floor of the House the complete abolishment of the powers of the Presidency. I ask my colleagues to vote down this legislation because it is unconstitutional. The purpose of the bill is to provide a mechanism for one House of Congress to enforce the ``take care'' clause in article II, section 3 of the United States Constitution, which requires the President to ``take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.'' The bill authorizes either chamber of Congress to bring a civil action against the executive branch for failure to faithfully execute existing laws. My colleagues on the other side argue that lawsuits by Congress to force the administration to enforce federal laws will prevent the president from exceeding his constitutional authority. But the Supreme Court has constantly held that the exercise of executive discretion being taken by President Obama is within the president's powers under the Constitution.…”