Congressional Accountability Quotes

I could end the deficit in 5 minutes. You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election

We have two parties who are basically hijacking our country for their corporate paymasters. And if we focus on 535 members of Congress, that's not all that many, we're going to see a fast turnaround. So focus all your concerns, all the information, the kind of agenda the Green Party has. Turn it right on your Senators and Representatives.

One thing I will not compromise over is whether or not Congress should pay the tab for a bill they've already racked up. If Congress refuses to give the United States the ability to pay its bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy could be catastrophic.

House and Senate Republicans are now united in adopting earmark bans. We hope President Obama will follow through on his support for an earmark ban by pressing Democratic leaders to join House and Senate Republicans in taking this critical step to restore public trust.

The American people want a balanced budget. They want Congress to stop this barbaric practice of perpetual deficit spending. It really, if you think about it, is a form of taxation without representation. We fought a war over that issue and we won that war.

The most dangerous thing a member of Congress could do is to ignore the citizenry who have taken up the mantle of reporting since they weren't getting the truth from the co-opted mainstream outlets.

While they are thus engaged in getting an honest living, a baker's dozen of unauthorized miscreants assemble in a dissecting-room, manipulate a lot of skulls, and decide that the whole batch of us did not descend from a human being. I tell you the whole thing is an atrocious violation of the rights of man. It's unconstitutional, sir! Talk about the glorious principle of "No taxation without representation"! That is simply a principle which affects our pockets, and we fought, bled, and died for it. Shall we not do a thousand times more for our souls? Shall we let our souls be voted away by a congress of dissectors, not chosen by our votes,—persons who not only don't represent, but infamously misrepresent us?

As constituents, we've become lazy in terms of what we want and how to get it. If we, as a constituency, don't like what Congress is doing, but 90 percent of incumbents get reelected every year, that's a problem.

People are so frustrated by electing people to represent them in Washington, D.C., and having them immediately forget about the Hoosiers they represent.

If Congress can't get a budget passed when they're supposed to, it's just common sense they shouldn't get paid.

My constituents say, 'Congressman, have you balanced the budget?' And I'm going to say, 'Well, we're working on it.' And they are going to say, 'Well, Congressman, did you get rid of Fannie and Freddie?' And I'm going to say, 'Well, we're working on it.'

The Congressional Ethics Committees are the brothers and sisters of member of Congress and no one wants to investigate their brothers and sisters.

I think people will be so happy with the Contract with America that term limits won’t matter.

Any spending should be debated openly on the floor of the House and voted on in open session, with the American people having a chance to watch and listen.

… the marketplace, in which we regard our representatives in Congress as our designated shoppers.

The desire of appropriations committee members to protect their prerogatives prevent Congress from effectively monitoring the intelligence community.

Most of us complain about Congress. We say it's a place that doesn't reflect us; they don't listen to us. Actually, Congress well reflects the American people. It gives us exactly what we ask for.

Tell Congress to go home and make an honest living instead of riding on the backs of the taxpayers.

We need term limits desperately in this country.

Please veto this bill. Mr. President, the Congress is out of control and needs adult supervision.

I've actually cut my personal pay individually; we didn't vote on that, but I've done that individually. It's important that folks know that we're going to roll up our sleeves and work on things, and members of Congress are going to sacrifice our own budgets first.

It has been said that this Congress is to be a do-nothing Congress. My humble judgment is, if this House shall investigate carefully and determine correctly and accurately the numerous contested-election cases before it, it will have performed a duty to the country of greater importance than the settlement of any question that has ever claimed the attention of a deliberative legislative body in this Republic for the last half century.

Earmarks are almost always inserted by a member of Congress without any notice to other members, and without a chance for Congress as a whole to debate a particular earmark as they relate to national priorities.

I think, from the broad political spectrum, not just the Freedom Caucus, I think there is a need for internal reform that is how we bring bills up, getting back to regular order, how we offer amendments or don't offer amendments.

I'm running for Congress to reverse Obama's big government policies, to be faithful to the principles on which our nation was founded, and to make members of Congress play by the same rules as the rest of us.