Barber Conable Quotes

One of the reasons Americans hold Washington in such low regard is the perception that nothing ever gets done. Whatever the issue - no matter how urgent - they always seem to be 'working on it.'

Many times, the Senate talks of things and never gets anything through.

The frustration of the Senate is that it's slow. It looks like an aquarium.

There's a can't-do attitude in this town [Washington DC] that I haven't seen anywhere else ... It's like running through a field of marshmallows in terms of getting anything done.

Talking heads will chatter, argue, and rant on TV and in the houses of Congress but that's all they will do. Weeks and months will go by in which the crowning achievement of Congress may be little more than perhaps passing a bill to declare National Eat Your Spinach Week (sponsored, of course, by the Spinach Growers of America).

If you're not comfortable with delay, frustration and impatience, get out of the Senate. It's the nature of the institution, but I think we've taken it to an art form.

If I live my life thinking that something might not pass the Senate, I would never even get up and bother to go to work.

We may not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex - but Congress can.

The politics of partisanship and the resulting inaction and excuses have paralyzed decision-making, primarily at the federal level, and the big issues of the day are not being addressed, leaving our future in jeopardy.

You can see how dysfunctional this Congress is.

Everywhere I go - from Main Street to Wall Street - people ask, 'What's happened to our political system? Why can't Washington folks work together?'

There are amendments never offered, there are bills never heard, that are basically killed because of the process.

The Republican senators are filibustering themselves out of their seats.

Has Washington become so dysfunctional that even when we all agree on something, we can’t get it done?

Federal governments and even state governments within countries have basically been immobilized by conflicting interests, by conflicting views of what science is, and the inability to lead. They are immobilized because they don’t want to take tough votes and alienate half of the constituency.

It’s tough for Washington to pass complicated legislation.

Congress is almost totally dysfunctional right now. All we've done this year and my first year in the Senate ... is barely keep the doors open.

Congress is good at two things: Doing nothing and over-reacting.

I'm tired of divided government. It doesn't work very well.

I've had a growing conviction that Congress is not operating as it should. There is much too much partisanship and not enough progress.

Washington is not good at getting things done.

Congress seems to be very good at doing nothing.

In Washington, you have imaginary problems, and they can't even solve the imaginary problems.

Congress is more broken than ever. Congressman Will Hurd has quickly become part of the problem.

There's no question that a Democratic Congress plus a Trump presidency would equal gridlock. Nothing moves, nothing changes, nothing gets accomplished, nothing gets reformed. Voters know this.