Ted Kennedy Quotes

Advice and consent does not mean rubber stamp in the Senate.

I was only one-half the appointing power. I nominated, but the Senate confirmed.

The Executive is a co-ordinate and independent branch of the Government equally with the Senate; and I have yet to learn under what constitutional authority that branch of the Legislature has a right to require of my an account of any communication ... made to the heads of departments ...

Congress no longer declares war or makes budgets. So that's the end of the constitution as a working machine.

Every once in a while, the Senate seems to remember that it belongs to a coequal branch.

The Supreme Court and courts in general have been usurping the role of the legislative branch of government.

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.

Congressmen take an independent oath to protect and defend the Constitution. They work with the President; they do not work for the President.

The Senate's role is to advise and consent. Very little advice has been sought and consent has thus been a problem.

The most important benefit that I can confer on the country by my Presidency is to insist upon the entire independence of the executive and legislative branches of government

[Congress is] the chief aggrandizer of the Executive.

It had better be known in the outset whether the President is the head of the government or the registering clerk of the Senate.

The Executive is as independent of either House of Congress as either House of Congress is independent of him, and they cannot call for the records of his actions, or the action of his officers against his consent, any more than he can call for any of the journals or records of the House or Senate.

Legislative power is always superior to the executive.

[Legislators] can have no power to transfer their authority of making laws and place it in the hands of others.

No check is necessary on a Legislature composed as the national Legislature would be, with two branches—an upper and a lower House.

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

At present the direction of our affairs, foreign and domestic, has again come to be almost wholly in the hands of the Senate, because there are in the Senate a few courageous men who have dared to take control from the Executive.

The only leverage we [Senators] have with the administration is the power to confirm.

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

The Senate should refuse to confirm nominees who do not take Congressional power seriously.

The Senate Majority Leader has the unilateral ability to stand up and say, 'If you defy Congress, if you defy the Constitution, if you defy the American people, none of your nominees will be confirmed.'

Government is not a bottom line enterprise. You can get yourself elected ... but you can't fire the legislature if they won't do what you want.

The imperial Presidency requires a passive Congress.

A Senator is not God or a doctor.