Congress Quotes

“I was ecstatic when they re-named "French fries" as "freedom fries." Grown men and women in positions of power in the U.S. government showing themselves as idiots.”
― Johnny Depp

“It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.”
― Mark Twain

“I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.”
― Ronald Regan

“I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is a disgrace, that two become a lawfirm, and that three or more become a congress. -John Adams”
― Sherman Edwards, 1776

“I could end the deficit in five minutes. You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP all sitting members of congress are ineligible for reelection.”
― Warren Buffet

“...all members of Congress should be required wear NASCAR uniforms. You know, the kind with the patches? That way we'd know who is sponsoring each of them. I think he was kidding; they'd never be able to do it but it's a great idea and would wake people up in this country.”
― Brad Thor, Full Black

“1. Society needs laws. While anarchy can often turn a humdrum weekend into something unforgettable, eventually the mob must be kept from stealing the conch and killing Piggy. And while it would be nice if that "something" was simple human decency, anybody who has witnessed the "50% Off Wedding Dress Sale" at Filene's Basement knows we need a backup plan—preferably in writing. On the other hand, too many laws can result in outright tyranny, particularly if one of those laws is "Kneel before Zod." Somewhere between these two extremes lies the legislative sweet-spot that produces just the right amount of laws for a well-adjusted society—more than zero, less than fascism.”
― Jon Stewart, America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction

“As heirs to a legacy more than two centuries old, it is understandable why present-day Americans would take their own democracy for granted. A president freely chosen from a wide-open field of two men every four years; a Congress with a 99% incumbency rate; a Supreme Court comprised of nine politically appointed judges whose only oversight is the icy scythe of Death -- all these reveal a system fully capable of maintaining itself. But our perfect democracy, which neither needs nor particularly wants voters, is a rarity. It is important to remember there still exist other forms of government in the world today, and that dozens of foreign countries still long for a democracy such as ours to be imposed on them.”
― Jon Stewart, America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction

“Pro and con are opposites, that fact is clearly seen. If progress means to move forward, then what does congress mean?”
― Nipsey Russell

“The Congressional Record will forever show that [Obamacare] was passed in a romper room of overgrown children seemingly barely old enough to keep from peeing on themselves.”
― Matt Taibbi, Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America

“Members of Congress are like the voters in one respect -- they want to go with the winners.”
― Ralph Nader, Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!

“To say that members of Congress have egos is like saying that I like cold beer.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“That was the only thing Washington was good at these days—recriminations and apportionment of blame. There was once a time, during the darkest days of the Cold War, when American foreign policy was characterized by consensus and steadfastness. Now the two parties could not agree on what to call the enemy, let alone how to combat him.”
― Daniel Silva

“Many of the members' young staffers were worse. Arrogant Ivy League twentysomethings berated me for forcing them to submit to the most basic security protocols. It was as if running a metal detector over the Starbucks cup they carried might curdle the soy milk in their grande vanilla latte, or delay them from A VERY IMPORTANT meeting.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“At no point that day did I ever think about the politics of that crowd. Even the things that were said not resonate in the middle of that chaos, but what did resonate was the fact that thousands of Americans were attacking police officers who were simply there doing their job, and that they were there to disrupt members of Congress who were doing their jobs.”
― Michael Fanone, Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul

“Rubio's sudden concern for the humanitarian situation in Venezuela smacks of hypocrisy, as he supported all US sanctions that have made life for Venezuelans miserable.”
― Ron Paul

“We've been called radicals, terrorists. We've been dismissed as an impossible fringe movement. But now we are a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-generational, multi-faith mass movement united in demanding change, in demanding accountability, in demanding that our police, our government, our country recognize that Black lives do indeed matter.

(From election victory speech)”
― Cori Bush

“In politics, there is no saint.”
― Martin Uzochukwu Ugwu

“It takes seriousness to get serious things done.”
― Martin Uzochukwu Ugwu

“The reasons for weaponizing division are not mysterious. Racial fear prevents Americans from building community with one another and community is the lifeblood of a functioning democratic society. Throughout our history, racist language has been used to turn American against American in order to benefit the wealthy elite. Every time Mr. Trump attacks refugees is a time that could be spent discussing the president's unwillingness to raise the federal minimum wage for up to 33 million Americans. Every racist attack on four members of Congress is a moment he doesn't have to address why his choice for labor secretary has spent his career defending Wall Street banks and Walmart at the expense of workers. When he is launching attacks on the free press, he isn't talking about why his Environmental Protection Agency just refused to ban a pesticide linked to brain damage in children.

(7/25/2019 in the New York Times)”
― Ilhan Omar

“We are motivated by radical love of country.
We fight for universal healthcare because of love.
We fight for a livable planet because of love.
We fight for equitable housing because of love.

(7/31/2020 on Twitter)”
― Ilhan Omar

“Ideology is no excuse for not focusing on working for and with the people who pay you to represent them, despite their politics — people who you are supposed to be fighting for.”
― Tyrus, Just Tyrus

“Government is never the solution, but it is almost always the problem.
- Quicksilver”
― Pierce Brown, Morning Star

“Congressional public hearings are not for the public but for Congress. They are designed to provide the Committee members with as much exposure as possible, and give the public the impression that its Congressmen are serious about what they’re doing and that they have not been squandering the taxpayer’s money. Hearings are primarily designed, in other words, to be politically rewarding.”
― Gaeton Fonzi, The Last Investigation

“Constant fear is the dominant feeling in all Kashmiri housholds”
― Afzal GURU

“Political discourse should be a platform for informed debate, policy discussions, and the presentation of ideas, rather than a space for personal attacks or the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes. By adhering to these guidelines, political parties can contribute to a more constructive and respectful public discourse.”
― Shivanshu K. Srivastava

“About all I can say about the United States Senate is that it opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation.”
― Will Rogers

“It was 3:15 in the morning of June 26, 1980, and Congressman Bob Livingston was extraordinarily drunk, hiding in the Congressional Gym beneath the Rayburn House Office Building, petrified that a team of highly trained right-wing homosexuals working on behalf of Ronald Reagan was about to kill him.”
― James Kirchick, Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington

“Any democratically elected government that listens more to its campaign financiers than its citizens, takes the demands of financial lenders sine qua non and those of its impoverished citizenry non exitus, is a failed government, corrupt and incompetent. It's not a government for the people and by the people, it is a government by the Whores for power!”
― Njau Kihia

“There were about as many superintendents in Oklahoma as there were members of Congress for the entire country. This tradition of hyperlocal control, hard-wired for inefficiency hinted at one reason that the United States spent so much more than other countries on education.”
― Amanda Ripley, The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way