Charles B. Rangel Quotes

The best thing for the American public is that we do our job. That Washington changes. That the Senate and the House get together and fix their differences and find common ground.

As members of Congress, we take an oath to uphold the Constitution and bear true faith and allegiance to the United States, not the Republican or Democratic party. I have been willing to stand up to my own leadership when it's in the national interest.

Though the views of members of the House and Senate are as divergent as the people we represent, we bear the responsibility to work through our political differences and get things done. That's our job.

I have, year after year, been named the most bipartisan member of the whole United States Senate. I have proved my independence.

The House of Representatives was not designed to sit idly by and rubberstamp every piece of legislation sent their way by the Senate, especially legislation passed on a straight party line vote under the spurious policy of reconciliation.

I really don't think there's a lack of good will between members of the parties. I go back a long way with a lot of Republicans, so I don't think it's personal. But there does seem to be a much greater gap in both the philosophy and emphasis on partisan victories as opposed to policy development.

It's one of the few regrets of my presidency - that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. There's no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I'll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office.

This is not about being liberal. This is not about being conservative. This is about making sure our government works for all Americans.

Whatever my party affiliation, I will continue to be guided by President Kennedy's statement that sometimes party asks too much.

Like most Americans, I feel disgusted when we see people make decisions based on party politics rather than a solution that is best for the country.

I stand before you today because this vision of government as the engine of opportunity is what I believe in.

Goodness knows, we have horrible problems to face in this Congress. I hope we can face them as colleagues in working unitedly for the people of this country and certainly not indulging in animosity or referring to each other as ''enemies.''

I don’t chose my friends and associates on the basis of political party. The Senate has become altogether too nasty.

Pluralism has run wild. We have become so blinded by the notion that there is no national interest, only special interests, that we are incapable of pursuing policies designed to be of general benefit.

Maintaining a continuity of foreign policy in the United States is not easy because it means that liberals and conservatives both shoot at you.

I have seen in the Halls of Congress more idealism, more humaneness, more compassion, more profiles of courage than in any other institution that I have ever known.

Congress, too, has changed in our time. There has grown a certain divisiveness. We have seen the hard looks and heard the statements in which not each other's ideas are challenged, but each other's motives. And our great parties have too often been far apart and untrusting of each other.

There are some in Congress who would rather see their opponents lose than see their country win. That has got to stop…. They must find a way to put country ahead of party.

Newt Gingrich can bring the two parties together like no one else. They will be together against him.

How to Turn Democrats & Republicans Into Americans

The middle in Congress is gone now. That is where we got most things done.

If you really want to get something done in Washington, it has to be done in a bi-Partisan way.

As recently as the 1960s, dozens of members of Congress frequently crossed the aisle to vote with a majority in the other party. Now there is only a handful of such moderates and they are a dying breed.

Overall, Congress is dysfunctional, partisan, and polarized, and it isn’t getting anything done. We need commissions to break out of divisive partisanship.

Health reform is, in some ways, a microcosm to everything that's right about Washington and everything that's wrong about it.