Mitch Landrieu Quotes

The idea that every subcommittee of Congress gets to question the [cabinet] Secretaries as often as they want to is an extraordinary waste of time.

Congress does investigations better than they do any thing else. Let them do that…. The people of Louisiana don’t want anyone’s head. They want everyone’s help.

Congress has lost its way if we don't hold this President accountable for his actions.

Congress should get the job done.

Congressional investigations are for the benefit of photographers.

Quite as important as legislation is vigilant oversight of administration; and even more important than legislation is the instruction and guidance in political affairs which the people might receive from a body which kept all national concerns suffused in a broad daylight of discussion .... The informing functions of Congress should be preferred even to its legislative function. The argument is not only that a discussed and interrogated administration is the only pure and efficient administration, but, more than that, that the only really self-governing people is that people which discusses and interrogates its administration.

Congress’ duty to the voters requires it to monitor how military appropriations are spent and to investigate the army’s failures if it was not willing to investigate itself. What are we to do? Sit idle during all the period that the [Civil] war is in progress?

Public Congressional Investigation hearings are freak shows.

As chair of the CBC, I will do all I can to be supportive of Congressman Conyers.

As both a career intelligence officer and as an American citizen, I am a strong believer in the importance of oversight. Simply put, experience has taught us that CIA cannot be effective without the people's trust, and we cannot hope to earn that trust without the accountability that comes with Congressional oversight.

I enjoyed my stay in the Congress. Most people do not. And too many people who have been elected really don't understand the nature of government.

It is easy to fall into the trap of believing that democracy will improve the function of policy.

Congress, the press, and the bureaucracy too often focus on how much money or effort is spent, rather than whether the money or effort actually achieves the announced goal.

In the absence of full-fledged Congressional investigations, American policymakers rarely look back. They are bound by continuity and fealty across administrations and generations.

People feel that they're being required to meet all sorts of regulations and rules and requirements in their areas of work and MPs are not imposing those sort of restrictions on themselves.

By definition, a government has no conscience. Sometimes it has a policy, but nothing more.

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

No sitting administration likes to see itself studied; no administration welcomes investigations.

The duty of an Opposition is to oppose.

An urgent need exists for regular and responsible Congressional scrutiny of the Central Intelligence Agency. Such scrutiny is essential… Our form of government…is based on a system of checks and balances. If this system gets seriously out of balance at any point the whole system is jeopardized and the way is opened for the growth of tyranny…CIA is freed from practically every ordinary form of Congressional check. I agree that an intelligence agency must maintain complete secrecy to be effective. However, there is a profound difference between an essential degree of secrecy to achieve a specific purpose and secrecy for the mere sake of secrecy.

Checks and balances, in time of war, are more important than ever.

Congress can’t discipline itself.

Oversight now is defined as going after political appointees.

No high qualities of statesmanship are expected from a Congressman.

I have found a reality in life, and that reality is the United States Congress.