Policy Impasse Quotes

Federal governments and even state governments within countries have basically been immobilized by conflicting interests, by conflicting views of what science is, and the inability to lead. They are immobilized because they don’t want to take tough votes and alienate half of the constituency.

When national policy becomes hostage to regional interests, the federal government becomes paralysed and would be unable to act in the larger national interest.

In the absence of a crisis, the status quo in Washington is more or less set in cement, as advocacy groups and turf-conscious government officials are able to thwart change.

In Washington, you have imaginary problems, and they can't even solve the imaginary problems.

Often times, political games prevent senators from even beginning to debate some of the most important issues.

Talking heads will chatter, argue, and rant on TV and in the houses of Congress but that's all they will do. Weeks and months will go by in which the crowning achievement of Congress may be little more than perhaps passing a bill to declare National Eat Your Spinach Week (sponsored, of course, by the Spinach Growers of America).

Obama has been the victim of bad luck in having an implacable Republican Party.

I had always heard that Mitch McConnell was a master legislator and a true loyalist to this institution. But in the 18 months I've been in the Senate, what I've seen is an astonishingly limited vision for what the Senate can and should accomplish. What a waste.

We're all tired of a Washington that has these partisan camps where nothing gets done.

Congress seems to be very good at doing nothing.

If I live my life thinking that something might not pass the Senate, I would never even get up and bother to go to work.

One of the reasons Americans hold Washington in such low regard is the perception that nothing ever gets done. Whatever the issue - no matter how urgent - they always seem to be 'working on it.'

I think President Trump is trying to distract the country away from the failures he's had - the inability to get a health care bill that both sides could come together on.

Like their predecessors, the Presidents of today just throw up their hands.

Common sense is not all that common in Washington DC.

We may not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex - but Congress can.

Our political system seems to be proving itself almost incapable of dealing with what's been put before it. The decisions it is making, or fluffing, are so vital and yet are inevitably so compromised by the endless political calculations of all involved.

In our system of government, an opposition party doesn't have the ability to pass legislation, but it has the ability to massively screw things up.

President Obama had lunch with Republican leaders at the White House today and had to do without salt, pepper and butter. Not for dietary reasons. The Republicans refused to pass anything.

The politics of partisanship and the resulting inaction and excuses have paralyzed decision-making, primarily at the federal level, and the big issues of the day are not being addressed, leaving our future in jeopardy.

Between [Speaker of the House] Paul Ryan, [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell, and Donald Trump's team, I don't see a lot of openings for making real progress.

Democrats haven't been functioning effectively as a party at the national level.

I don't think it's the function of Congress to function well. It should drag its heels on the way to decision.

In a unity government, it's very difficult to move anything at all.

Many times, the Senate talks of things and never gets anything through.