"I have often joked that the name 'the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress' makes us sound like we are the IT help desk."
"I think Schoolhouse Rock got it right when the little bill on Capitol Hill explained it started as an idea from folks back home who decided they wanted a law passed."
"A great example is the Building Civic Bridges Act, which is a bipartisan bill I recently introduced."
"We are not prepared. And we still aren't."
"What constitutes a quorum."
"We have not only got the issue is the quorum valid, but we have got an issue of legitimacy."
"If the balance of power changes... you now have a different majority than the people elected."
"One of the issues of legitimacy in a representative government is do you have a representative?"
"If your State has no Senators or no Representatives at a time of national crisis, you are not part of that representative government."
"Imagine a scenario, a horrible scenario, in which the Capitol gets hit during the State of the Union or the inauguration."
"Twenty-four hours later, the Congress of the United States, Article I, is back and functioning with credible people chosen by the last person elected to represent the people."
"So my recommendation going forward would be to make targeted investments to make a difference, but also to recognize the scale of this crisis is beyond the public treasury."