Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, this is a little repetitious. We have been through this so many times. But I want to take advantage of an opportunity to pay tribute to a very distinguished colleague who was first elected to Congress when I graduated from high school. That is the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Yates). The gentleman is a dear friend. He has been a devoted and committed Member of this body. We sometimes have our disagreements on all kinds of issues, but I respect him profoundly and I wish him all the best. Let me add that I am totally opposed to this amendment. At the Constitutional Convention, the whole question came up of funding the arts and it was overwhelmingly rejected on the grounds that that is not an appropriate function of the national government. In 1965 we got into 'guns and butter.' We got into funding everything. The national government swelled enormously, penetrating virtually every aspect of our lives. This is not a time to revive it; this is a time for downsizing, getting the national government out of our lives and getting folks back home more involved in participating in funding such things as the arts and humanities.”