Nothing happens in any legislative body that's not purposeful.
I came here with a lot of things that I would like to get done for my community and my constituents. Shooting hoops at the White House was not at the top of the list but would certainly be a thrill.
For legislators make the citizens good by forming habits in them, and this is the wish of every legislator, and those who do not effect it miss their mark, and it is in this that a good constitution differs from a bad one.
My goal is to get leadership to bring more conservative policies to the floor; it's not the other way around to get conservatives to vote for something they don't like. It's to get a more conservative product, and we've actually delivered on a number of occasions there.
I like to think I am a serious legislator and trying to get things done. That's my goal in life, to get things done.
The fact is, if our primary legislative goals are to repeal and replace the health spending bill; to end the bailouts; cut spending; and shrink the size and scope of government, the only way to do all these things it is to put someone in the White House who won't veto any of these things.
A number of us had conversations with the Kerry campaign about what he was going to say about CAFE. What he told us was that he did not want to sacrifice jobs and that he wanted to work with the auto industry to achieve that goal.
We have, here in California, among the most ambitious climate goals in the country. It's not just our political leaders or our regulators that really wants these things.
What I am anxious to do is to secure my legislation.... What I want to do is to get through that, and if I can point to a record of usefulness of that kind, I am entirely willing to quit office.
It is a rare piece of legislation indeed where there is so much agreement about the goals.
I think this coming session of Congress will be composed of the hungriest set of men that ever got together
Huntington and his associates were used to bribing Congressmen to vote for favorable railroad legislation.
I want to compliment the fraternity and sorority organizations for taking the time to meet with us and then removing their support from the legislation that would have been so counterproductive for a goal that I think we all share - and that is making campuses safer and the successful prosecution of people who commit serious crimes. So, good on them that they backed off, and we don't have to fight them.
[Ronald] Reagan had an agenda, three agenda items. George W. Bush had some. But [Donald] Trump, because people weren't listening, Trump has the longest agenda item list I have seen in modern American politics.