Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, I am proud to rise in support of title II of this resolution to establish a new Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, and I start by thanking Chairman McGovern and the Speaker for their collaboration over the past several months as they formed this plan. Let me say something that the American people know to be true, and that is that this House is a fixer-upper. Every time the American people feel like they don't have a say and nothing gets done, or every time a bill is written behind closed doors and passed without debate, the American people lose their faith in the ideal that formed this body, the idea that they have the ability to shape the outcome of what happens here. It is time to rebuild this institution so it lives up to the motto that serves as this Nation's motto that hangs in this room: E pluribus unum, out of many, one. Now, every 20 years or so, there has been an effort to reform and modernize this House. There has been an acknowledgment that like any other functional organization, it is worth diagnosing what is working and what isn't, and determining how to have it perform better.…”