Zitat des Tages von Dan Webster:
The voters in District 8 shared our vision that Washington is broken, and we're going to go up there and fix it.
Power tends to protect itself merely to maintain its own status and control. Principle gives up power for the sake of creating the best public policy.
John Boehner is a friend.
There's a picture there that people realize that, we stop helping Israel, we lose God's hand, and we're in big time trouble.
Do I like foreign aid? Sometimes, but not every time. Don't like giving money to our enemies, but I love giving money to Israel.
You have got to clean your own house first before you tell other people that they aren't doing it right.
Every member in Congress has a seat, and they deserve a seat at the table.
Power says if you are a committee chairman, your idea is good only because you have got power.
It's different from Washington in that in the legislature, you have to go home and have a job and actually make a living on your own. That gives you a different perspective.
We passed a bill in 1997, signed by Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles, which created a pilot program for a novel experiment called Florida Virtual School. The notion of children using a computer for a classroom and reporting to virtual teachers wasn't exactly mainstream thinking in those days.
Are we going to just change the personalities in the speakership? Or are we going to fundamentally transform the way we do business here in Washington, D.C.?
There are amendments never offered, there are bills never heard, that are basically killed because of the process.
The process for producing public policy in Congress is flawed. The process itself kills policy ideas through the bypassing of the rules and procedural decisions that limit discussion.
The principle is that every member needs to represent their district.
I found a mistake in a rule. They addressed the wrong rule number... I pointed it out, did an amendment, and everybody was happy after that.
I would like to give evidence we can lead. And I think the only way we can do that is to unify the diversity of the party.
My expectations are not in any future event. I would rather just be prepared for whatever might take place.
Some people have been talking about - every place I go, they bring up the issue of foreign aid. I go, 'You can't get rid of all foreign aid.'
Let's take up the most important issues first. Let's take up the reauthorizations first; let's take up the appropriations bill first, not wait until four days beforehand - no one has mentioned anything, and, all of a sudden, somebody looks at their watch and says, 'Hey, in four days, the government is going to run out of money.'
I never talk about my opponent because I don't think it's my right to judge.
You take away the money from Israel? No. That's something we can't do.
My job was to get a fair and open hearing to all ideas.
I have a problem with the way the House is run. I believe that a few people at the top of a pyramid of power have controlled this place for a long time.
You can think of all the things a Congress or a legislature does, and then you kind of overshadow that with the fact that a few people are going to make those decisions.
I have saved $1,638,580 over my four years. That may not seem like a lot, faced with our deficit, but multiply it by 435 members of the House - and then the senators get three times as much - and you are adding up several millions in savings.
Nothing happens in any legislative body that's not purposeful.
My whole deal is I want to have a principle-based, member-driven caucus.
Power focuses on self-preservation; principle focuses on making ideas successful.
I've never, in my whole 30 years in office, run a negative ad.
I'm a plodder, not a planner.