Hillary Clinton Quotes

You elected government officials to make decisions and it's about time they started making good ones.

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

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 know we can fix our problems. When there are people in the room who care more about doing the job they were elected to do than they worry about winning reelection, it is possible to work together, achieve principal compromise, and get results for the people who give us these jobs in the first place.

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

On Capitol Hill we like to make tough speeches. We don’t like to make tough choices.

We senators love to make tough speeches but hate to make tough votes.

We need to recognize our agreements and disagreements with whomever is chosen as president, but we can't continue to just stall out in Washington just because it's not who I voted for. We have still an obligation and duty to challenge and to work through.

We need Congress to do more than just engage in partisan games.

We have a two-party system that I think can work well if people make an effort.

We were all elected to try to improve the lives of our constituents.

In a certain sense, and to a certain extent, he [the president] is the representative of the people. He is elected by them, as well as congress is. But can he, in the nature [of] things, know the wants of the people, as well as three hundred other men, coming from all the various localities of the nation? If so, where is the propriety of having a congress?

You start from the broad premise that all of us have a common duty to the country to perform. Legislation is always the art of the possible. You could, of course, follow a course of solid opposition, of stalemate, but that is not in the interest of the country.

This is not just our battle. It is an issue for opinion makers outside the government, it is a battle for the Congress—to keep making the distinction between the immediate and the important.

Why is it so hard for the Congress to do something for the public?

It is citizen participation that nourishes the strength of a democracy.

The Senate is indeed a deliberative body, and that quality serves the nation well. A slow-moving government helps us maintain a stable government. But slow moving is not the same as immobile.

It is time that we labored for the happiness of the people. Legislators who are to bring light and order into the world must pursue their course with inexorable tread, fearless and unswerving as the sun.

Let us give our Republic not the best possible laws but the best which they will bear.

Stop sending out press releases and start passing some bills...

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

The Federal Government is the people and the budget is a reflection of their need

Political authorities should lead the way and not lag behind [public opinion].

Americans want the building to continue. They expect and deserve a government that will allow that to happen.

Sometimes we're tone-deaf in Washington, and we listen only to ourselves. We do not hear the cry of people who want answers, want action, want protection, and have some darn good ideas as to how to provide it if only we would listen.