Christine Todd Whitman Quotes

We do not expect much from a pre-election [American] government. It is hostage to the election process.

We have a paralysis in Washington that's not serving our country. We have to address these issues.

And I'm here to tell you, the reaction that I'm getting around the country, people are sick and tired of this word in Washington, compromise. This is why nothing ever gets 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).

In the absence of a crisis, the status quo in Washington is more or less set in cement, as advocacy groups and turf-conscious government officials are able to thwart change.

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.'

There's a lot of good, bipartisan legislation that passes in committee and then gets bottled up. As a businessman, it surprised me.

Given the slow pace of Washington's bureaucracy, policymakers are often busy solving yesterday's problems. This rearview mirror approach afflicts Mr. Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress.

Most pundits regard an election year session as an opportunity for the two parties to frame issues and garner political advantage in advance of the approaching election.

The great curse of modern political life is incrementalism.

What's going on in the Senate is kind of a politics of escalation. We're getting sort of like the Mideast: pay back everybody when you're in charge.

What passes for real debate in Washington often seems more like an echo chamber, with politicians talking at politicians.

Governing is one thing, campaigning is another - and the latter becomes far more pronounced in an election-year State of the Union.

I believe people who go into politics want to do the right thing. And then they hit a big wall of re-election and the pettiness of politics. In the end, politics gets in the way of the business of people.

Congress can't take the year off, election or no election.

There is a problem in Washington, and the problem is bigger than a continuing resolution. It is bigger than Obamacare. It is even bigger than the budget. The most fundamental problem and the frustration is that the men and women in Washington aren't listening.

People will pay a price for putting political obstruction over progress in a time that is so critical and urgent.

Ohio's doing what it can do, but I wish they'd get their act together in Washington.

In Washington, 'delay' is too often code for 'derail.' Wink, wink.

Today's Congress responds to everything, to everybody, to every whim.

I am truly wearied with lounging here; doing nothing but feeding on the public funds—we have really done nothing yet beneficial; and for nine weeks has the House of Representatives been engaged debating the Tariff, that could have been as well decided in two.

Everyone in Washington knows what needs to be done. They just don’t do it because there’s always someone else they can blame.

Washington has become a place where good ideas come to die.

In the United States Senate we have to break the culture of procrastination.

The attitude of the Senate toward public affairs makes all serious negotiations impossible.