quotations about the U.S. Congress
I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is a disgrace, that two become a lawfirm, and that three or more become a congress.
PETER STONE
1776: A Musical Play
Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate; now what's going to happen to us with both a Senate and a House?
WILL ROGERS
attributed, Return of the Portable Curmudgeon
There is a tradition that, on his return from France, Jefferson called Washington to account at the breakfast-table for having agreed to a second chamber. "Why," asked Washington, "did you pour that coffee into your saucer?" "To cool it," quoth Jefferson. "Even so," said Washington, "we pour legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it."
MONCURE DANIEL CONWAY
Omitted Chapters of History Disclosed in the Life and Papers of Edmund Randolph
It's important that Congress is in touch. People tend to interpret this as me railing against older people and being ageist. But that's not what this is about. It's a problem of representation. We don't have enough intergenerational representation. We largely have one generation. That's not to say that one generation should be out of power, it's that others should be here as well.
ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ
Rolling Stone, February 27, 2019
I am now here in Congress... I am at liberty to vote as my conscience and judgment dictates to be right, without the yoke of any party on me, or the driver at my heels, with his whip in hand, commanding me to ge-wo-haw, just at his pleasure. Look at my arms, you will find no party hand-cuff on them!
DAVY CROCKETT
letter, Jan. 28, 1834
There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.
MARK TWAIN
Following the Equator
As heirs to a legacy more than two centuries old, it is understandable why present-day Americans would take their own democracy for granted. A president freely chosen from a wide-open field of two men every four years; a Congress with a 99% incumbency rate; a Supreme Court comprised of nine politically appointed judges whose only oversight is the icy scythe of Death -- all these reveal a system fully capable of maintaining itself.
JON STEWART
America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction
All members of Congress should be required wear NASCAR uniforms. You know, the kind with the patches? That way we'd know who is sponsoring each of them.
BRAD THOR
Full Black
If you tell Congress everything about the world situation, they get hysterical. If you tell them nothing, they go fishing.
HARRY S. TRUMAN
The Wit & Wisdom of Harry Truman
More than six people cannot agree on anything, three is better and one is perfect for a job that one can do. This is why parliamentary bodies all through history, when they accomplished anything, owed it to a few strong men who dominated the rest.
ROBERT A. HEINLEIN
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
About half the population thinks that every person in Congress, including their own representative, should be thrown out. That's the center not holding.
NOAM CHOMSKY
Power Systems: Conversations on Global Democratic Uprisings and the New Challenges to U.S. Empire
If the present Congress errs in too much talking, how can it be otherwise, in a body to which the peeple send one hundred and fifty lawyers, whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour?
THOMAS JEFFERSON
The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson
Congress is so strange. A man gets up to speak and says nothing. Nobody listens--and then everybody disagrees.
BORIS MARSHALOV
attributed, Laughing with Congress
The mistakes made by Congress wouldn't be so bad if the next Congress didn't keep trying to correct them.
CULLEN HIGHTOWER
attributed, Great Funny Quotes
The little boy who goes to the store and forgets what his mother sent him for, will probably grow up to be a congressman.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
Congress seems drugged and inert most of the time. Even when the problems it ignores build up to crises and erupt in strikes, riots, and demonstrations, it has not moved. Its idea of meeting a problem is to hold hearings or, in extreme cases, to appoint a commission.
SHIRLEY CHISHOLM
Unbought and Unbossed
Congress in session is Congress on public exhibition, whilst Congress in its committee-rooms is Congress at work.
WOODROW WILSON
Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics
Some members of Congress ought to have their mouths taped instead of their speeches.
EVEN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
There are 249 millionaires in Congress. Remember a couple of years ago when this new Congress told us they had the solution to the recession? Apparently, they didn't share it with the rest of us.
JAY LENO
The Tonight Show, Nov. 18, 2011
About the only time Congress conforms to the will of the people is when it decides to adjourn.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes