Jim Webb Quotes

What I find is most people have a civics book understanding for how Congress works and how a bill moves.

I love serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, and I have especially enjoyed my time on the Ways and Means Committee.

I used to sit on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue and wonder why the Senate was always going into recess, until in my first year I realized how intense the pressure was.

The closest I've come to being on a reality TV show is C-SPAN's live coverage of the Senate floor.

I worked in the Senate in the 1970s. I worked for the Labor, Public Welfare Committee, and we had Ted Kennedy and my old boss, Bill Hathaway, and Walter Mondale.

I never dread going back to Congress.

I guess my claim to fame is I've now gaveled Ted Kennedy to order twice.

The House [of Representatives] has become not so much a legislative assembly as a huge panel from which committees are selected.

Congress is a collection of committees that come together in a Chamber periodically to approve one another's actions.

Congresscritters

Do I have comedy writers? Of course I have writers—535 of them—100 in the Senate and 435 in the House.

You have 435 people in the United States House of Representatives trying to get along.

When I first arrived, I likened Congress to being back in school again as a freshman. Well, just like school, we have an 'August recess,' but don't let the name fool you - it's not even close to a vacation.

I represent the 9th Congressional District of Georgia. I'm their voice.

Congress is a culture and I would love to be part of it.

I was a very, very good congressman.

I like the House. The House is where you can effect the most change. It's such a fast-moving dynamic body compared to the Senate.

I am chairman of the Africa subcommittee in the House of Representatives.

Lyndon Johnson, as majority leader of the United States Senate, he made the Senate work.

Rock stars generally don't last in the Senate, starting with John Kennedy. Too much work, too slow, too little juice. Getting something accomplished takes a remarkable amount of tedious work. Rock stars who become senators either run for something else or retire on the job. They certainly don't make a mark.

Mr. Dingell is just plain Mr. Dingell. And when he gets to be chairman of the Commerce Committee, he doesn't let it go to his head. However, he thinks he would be a very, very good chairman.

I must say I am not pleased to have to arrange the Senate schedule around the availability of Senators who are running for President.

Like it or not, the people of Arkansas sent me to Washington to represent them in this great body.

Now, for this book I had to learn the world of the Senate, which is really for all that's written about the Senate, an unknowing world and its mores, and the way things work with subcommittees and all. I loved learning about that.

Your first six months in the Senate, you spend a lot of time wondering how the hell you got here. After that, you look around at your colleagues and wonder how the hell any of them got here.