Bob Barr Quotes

As a member of Congress, I believe Congress must provide oversight of actions by the Executive Branch as our system of checks and balances requires.

I respect the Congress's oversight responsibility.

Look, I think by the time my case was over and other ones, everybody on both sides of the aisle in Congress said we can't run a government by this kind of process and they repealed the law and that's good.

I have kept a steady focus on restoring public faith in our state government since taking office July 1. Now it is time to make even bigger and bolder gains through legislative action.

The American people should not be footing the bill for federal employees who stonewall Congress or rewarding government officials' bad behavior.

There is an important role for a United States senator as a check and balance on the president of the United States.

Defending Congressional authority should not be a partisan issue.

I really want Congress to do its job, the constitutional power that they have, to halt an imperial presidency, to halt this fundamental transformation of America that is making us an unrecognizable mess of a nation at this time.

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.

You run Washington DC though the House. The Senate gets in the way. The President gets in the way.

[The impeachment power] is the heaviest piece of artillery in the congressional arsenal, but because it is so heavy it is unfit for ordinary use.

Members of Congress often have to have testimony to hang their hat on if they wish to do something for you or do something for the country.

[Congressional] investigations only make it look like legislators have a solution.

Congress ... is far more than the simple, limited advisory council that most Presidents would like to maintain.

Congress has a lot of powers which people, especially those in the executive branch, don't like to talk about.

Frequent elections by the people furnish the only protection, under the constitution, against the abuse of acknowledged legislative power.

The independence of the legislative arm must be respected. I had little taste for forcing Congressional action.

It is against the enterprising ambition of this department [the legislature] that the people ought to indulge all their jealousy and exhaust all their precautions.

The Constitution provided an invitation to the President and Congress to struggle for the privilege of directing American foreign policy.

It is up to Congress to see to it that its powers do not slip through its fingers

Everything the CIA does is secret and it is secret particularly from the Congress.

Democrats legislate; Republicans investigate.

We [the Supreme Court] may say that power to legislate for emergencies belongs in the hands of Congress, but only Congress itself can prevent power from slipping through its fingers.

It has a natural appeal, but I don't believe that even in 2020 there will be term limitations on Congress.