Matt Rosendale Quotes

There are times in Annapolis when a governor's support can move an issue over the goal line.

One of the things I give Nancy Pelosi a lot of credit for is that she's able to get things passed and hold her members together because she shows us that she's doing everything possible to get our views into these bills.

Presidents are evaluated not by what they did by the stroke of their own pen; it's what they persuade Congress to do.

I'd like to think I'm a serious legislator and trying to get things done.

I changed that system in Florida when I was the Speaker of the House - I was the Minority Leader; I saw for 16 years the way a power system works.

You've got to have a theme if you're going to get Congress to do something difficult.

Especially in the whip operation, you're in constant contact with the members and their chiefs of staff, so having a chief who's approachable and reaches out to other chiefs so people know what's going - know what they're looking for in the policy that comes to the House floor - is incredibly important.

While I am grateful for the friendships and relationships that I have with my Republican colleagues, it would be naive to pretend that those friendships will change the way that major policies are enacted in Arizona.

If at the end of May we don't, we'll reform, regroup, decide how we're going to go about it, but if the task force can't come up with the bill, I'm going to push mine, and go ahead and make the changes in it that we've been working on now for a year or two and just go for it.

I think there's a lot to learn from Rockefeller on how to pass legislation.

I really don't have tremendous political ambition. I have policy ambition.

Politics is not a tea party. When it is time to act, you have to move fast and decisively.

The dominant color of politics is gray; difficult choices and compromise are required at almost every step of the journey toward a major new program.

If you can’t move the public, you can’t move the Congress.

When you are President you have to get something done, and that often means compromise.

Getting members of Congress to do things they don’t want to do is a crucial part of being President.

You cannot rely on House or Senate staff to pass a piece of legislation for you, but if you have antagonized staff, they can block you.

It is the business of the President as party leader to do the best he can to see that the declared party platform purposes are translated into legislative and administrative action.

A president in his first year has a mandate and some political capital. When he picks an issue, he can practically roll any Congress.

You cannot make elected officials … do what they will not do.

There is something wrong with the way in which we make our decisions. The Government listen too much to the pollsters and the party managers. The trouble is that they are not even very good at politics, and they are entering too much into policy decisions. As a result, there is too much short-termism, too much reacting to events, and not enough shaping of events. We give the impression of being in office but not in power. Far too many important decisions are made for 36 hours' publicity.

The question of our time is rapidly becoming can government get things done?

We've got to get back to a country that can get things done. And my whole career has been marching and charging at and running toward some of the most difficult problems in America and finding ways to create new coalitions to get things done.

Jon Kyl did a really good job of presenting a case and moving issues. John McCain probably is one of the more effective legislators, getting things on through the process. I always thought, too - and this may seem kind of odd - Richard Shelby was just an effective guy a lot of times at stopping things.

I've taken legislation that people have been trying to pass for 10 or 15 years, and I got it passed.