Congressional Experience Quotes

I have served in the Congress during two wars and I have seen the impacts on our military, on their families and on our national deficit.

Serving in Congress has been more than an honor; it has been one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life... It has been a wonderful ride. It has been a wonderful journey.

Before I was elected to Congress, I had the honor of serving as the president of the Congregation Ner Tamid in Henderson, the largest Reform Synagogue in Southern Nevada. During my tenure, I witnessed firsthand the beauty in our country's religious diversity and how community engagement strengthens America.

My appetite for public policy and changing it, and not only being a part of the conversation, but affecting it in a positive way, never diminished after 10 years in Congress.

The longer you're here [in Congress] the better seniority looks.

I understand clearly as a freshman in Congress, you don't get to steer the bus.

When I was in Congress, I worked with Joe Kennedy to rename the Justice Department for Bobby, and when I retired, Teddy Kennedy sent me this Roy Lichtenstein print of his brother, inscribed: 'Bobby would have been proud of you.'

I loved my time in Congress, but people who spend all of their time planning to run for office have very few useful skills to deploy when they finally get there.

I really thought, with my background growing up, and my service, and all that, I thought it would be enough for the presidency. But... It sure was enough when I ran for Congress.

There is only one thing I want to say about Ohio that has a political tinge, and that is that I think a mistake has been made of recent years in Ohio in failing to continue as our representatives the same people term after term. I do not need to tell a Washington audience, among whom there are certainly some who have been interested in legislation, that length of service in the House and in the Senate is what gives influence.

There is nothing that I didn't get to do while I was serving in Congress - except be in the majority.

I'm probably one of the only people who has voted for the speaker of the House but didn't serve in Congress.

When I was in the House for 16 years, I caucused with the Democrats.

Mike Pence, of course, is a governor with executive experience and doing well in a Midwestern state, but also served in Congress. I served with Mike.

Joining the Bipartisan Policy Center is a natural extension of my efforts to achieve results throughout my tenure in Congress, and it provides an ideal means for developing strategies that can garner the broad support necessary to achieve real solutions to the challenges confronting our nation.

I did one cable news hit during my first 10 months in Congress.

In 2006, I appeared before a House subcommittee considering real estate reform. It was like visiting the capital for the 'Hunger Games' as an outsider in a glamorous and byzantine fairy tale: I couldn't believe how beautiful all the congressional aides were, and I never understood the system of bells and alarms warning legislators to vote.

Senator Mikulski has done an outstanding job representing Maryland in the U.S. Senate for nearly 30 years.

In my short time in Congress, I've learned it's a lot easier to find a reason to vote against something than to vote it.

No one knows the Senate better than Joe Biden; he lived there for 35 years.

Coming into Congress, I didn't really have much of a worldly experience.

One of my mentors was Patricia Schroeder, and one night she came to me on the floor and she said to me, "Why are we sitting in Congress, when a lot of women would try to do it and couldn't? Why are we here and others aren't?" And I thought back and said it was because my father believed in me and she said the same thing, she said her father believed in her and thought she could do anything.

I first learned of the value of employee stock ownership plans while representing Louisiana's 3rd congressional district, home of employee-owned Acadian Ambulance.

For the first 10 years of my life in Congress, I had been too timid to tell the truth as I saw it. In a way I had betrayed my trust.

I've spent eight years in Congress avoiding moral language. I represent a swing district. I believe profoundly in not challenging the motives of your opponents. But more and more, we're in a world where leaders have to speak up, and speak in strong moral terms.