Term For Congress Quotes & Sayings

While restoring a sense of fiscal discipline to Congress is a top priority, infrastructure spending is an important and necessary task of government. Our nation's long-term debt requires us to prioritize and economize with every tax dollar. — Cynthia Lummis

My top three priorities for my first term in Congress are growing our economy; providing for quality, affordable health care; and keeping our nation and communities safe. — Cathy McMorris Rodgers

Few things infuse a member of Congress with more courage than self-imposed term limits or an imminent retirement. The issues they choose to focus on in their final months say a great deal about what are really the most important issues in the country. — Tom Coburn

Today I am announcing that I will not seek a tenth term in the United States Congress this November. — Lincoln Diaz-Balart

During Richard Nixon's first term, when I served as secretary of defense, we withdrew U.S. forces from Vietnam while building up the South's ability to defend itself. The result was a success - until Congress snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by cutting off funding for our ally in 1975. Washington should follow a similar strategy now, but this time finish the job properly. — Melvin Laird

Even if Zuma was to develop the authoritarian impulses of a Mugabe, he would be checked - not least by his own party, which set a continental precedent by ousting Thabo Mbeki in 2007, after it felt he had outstayed his welcome by seeking a third term as party president. The ANC appears to have set itself against that deathtrap of African democracy: the ruler for life. — Mark Gevisser

I would like to believe I would not have behaved differently had I not made a term limits pledge, but my own frailties and human desire for prestige and position tell me my term limits pledge did make a difference in how I approached my job in Congress. — Tom Coburn

And always remember, Abraham Lincoln only served one term in Congress, too. — Allen West

Asking an incumbent member of Congress to vote for term limits is a bit like asking a chicken to vote for Colonel Sanders. — Bob Inglis

That the Bomb altered our subsequent history down to its deepest constitutional roots. It redefined the presidency, as in all respects America's "Commander in Chief" (a term that took on a new and unconstitutional meaning in this period). It fostered an anxiety of continuing crisis, so that society was pervasively militarized. It redefined the government as a National Security State, with an apparatus of secrecy and executive control. It redefined Congress, as an executor of the executive. And it redefined the Supreme Court, as a follower of the follower of the executive. Only one part of the government had the supreme power, the Bomb, and all else must defer to it, for the good of the nation, for the good of the world, for the custody of the future, in a world of perpetual emergency superseding ordinary constitutional restrictions. — Garry Wills

Even in Madison's day, the practice of gerrymandering for partisan advantage was familiar. In the late seventeen-eighties, there were claims that Patrick Henry had tried to gerrymander Madison himself out of the First Congress. The term was coined during Madison's Presidency, to mock Elbridge Gerry, the governor of Massachusetts, who in 1811 approved an election district that was said to look like a salamander. — Jeffrey Toobin

If George W. Bush is given a second term, and retains a Republican Congress and a compliant federal judiciary, he and his allies are likely to embark on a campaign of political retribution the likes of which we haven't seen since Richard Nixon. — Paul Begala

The average term length of a member of congress is approaching 15 years, and the average term length of a convicted criminal is less than three. We've got that backward. — Oliver North

In the long term, "I Believe You, Anita" became a feminist slogan, and Hill is often credited with launching a revolution in recognition of and response to workplace sexual harassment. A month after the hearings, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1991, part of which allowed sexual-harassment victims to sue their employers for damages and backpay. — Rebecca Solnit

I think we have a Tea Party mandate, and that Tea Party mandate is for good-government type of things, things like term limits, things like a balanced budget amendment, things like read the bills for goodness sakes, things like that maybe Congress should only pass legislation that they apply to themselves as well. — Rand Paul

The member of Congress who forgets his constituents' needs usually serves only one term. — Edward Brooke

I would like to see this group in this Congress be starting the process to get ourselves on long term fiscal strong footing. — Ben Quayle

I expect to maintain this contest until successful, or till I die, or am conquered, or my term expires, or Congress or the country forsakes me ... — Abraham Lincoln

Well, I think the best thing we can do for the short term is move good energy legislation through to the Congress; I'm encouraged that there's some prospect for that now. — John W. Snow

Mr. Roosevelt, this is my principal request
it is almost the last request I shall ever make of anybody. Before you leave the presidential chair, recommend Congress to submit to the Legislatures a Constitutional Amendment which will enfranchise women, and thus take your place in history with Lincoln, the great emancipator. I beg of you not to close your term of office without doing this. — Susan B. Anthony

Term limits would make Congress bolder, more independent, and less risk-averse. — George Will

Love it or hate it, Obamacare is the law of the land. It was passed by Congress, signed into law by President Obama, declared constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court and ratified by a majority of Americans, who reelected the president for a second term. — Hank Johnson

I've done a contract with my district. I have term-limited myself. I am not taking the pension. I am not taking pay raises, and my family and I are bringing our own health care to Washington, D.C. And my dad taught me as a kid to lead by example - Congress should not have anything better than the American people. — Bobby Schilling

Federal and state agencies are another possible candidate for this long-term preservation role when it comes to published materials. In the United States, the Library of Congress and the National Archives play major preservation roles, but neither institution can reasonably claim to hold a complete record of our cultural and scientific legacy - especially in an era when much of the publishing takes place on the web. — John Palfrey

I happened to have the privilege of serving in Congress. It will be 16 years at the end of this term. And I think I made a difference here on important issues. — Dennis Kucinich

One of the challenges of any second-term administration is you always lose a certain amount of identification with the Congress, because everybody in the Congress in the first term knows you'll be out there in the next campaign with them, .. Your motives are always a little more suspect when you don't have to face the voters again. — Roy Blunt

In 2004, I ran for Congress and lost. In 2006, I ran again and won - defeating Richard Pombo, a seven-term Republican incumbent. — Jerry McNerney

The average prison term for a convicted murderer in America is 6.5 years. The average tenure for a member of Congress is 13 years. We've got it backwards. We are giving early release to the wrong criminal class. — Pat Robertson

It wasn't until after I was reelected in 1982 that I thought of myself as a long-term member of Congress. — Barney Frank

I also know that every person faces adversity in life. Abraham Lincoln held this seat in Congress in one term. But few faced as many defeats in his personal, business and public life as he did, — Aaron Schock

I fundamentally believe in term limits, for Congress, presidents, and board members. — Jim Breyer

The first thing I plan to do is what I did while serving in Arizona's legislature - and that was to seek out members that I often disagreed with on important issues. It was through our authentic relationships and mutual respect that we found common ground on legislation that helped people. The challenge for Congress is to move past the harsh partisanship that we saw in the last term. This is a critical step in advancing policies that will strengthen and protect LGBT families. — Kyrsten Sinema

Last time Congress passed a major six-year transportation bill was in 1997, since then there have been 21 short-term extensions. — Ray LaHood

I welcome a discussion on a long-term, pro-active approach to disaster relief for Americans. Until Congress arrives at a conclusion, however, we must continue to honor America's honorable tradition of helping Americans recover for natural catastrophes. — Cedric Richmond

During my first term in Congress, I signed a pledge that I will take no more earmarks and I've been faithful to that pledge. — Michele Bachmann

I will leave the U.S. Congress when the term for which I was elected expires in January 2011 and return to the practice of law with a sense of duty fulfilled. — Mario Diaz-Balart

We're committed to working with Congress to doing what the president said he was always going to do, which is cut the deficit in half over the - over his first term. — Christina Romer

Republicans in Congress are getting concerned that President Obama will try to use the final year of his term to push through too many controversial laws. Obama would've responded but he was busy drafting his new 'mandatory Mexican gay weed' bill. — Jimmy Fallon

Very few men are fortunate enough to gain distinction during their first term in Congress. — John George Nicolay

Although it has become the most visible of American suburban landscapes, the edge node has few architectural defenders. Even developers despair: 'Shopping centers built only in the 1960s are already being abandoned. Their abandonment brings down the values of nearby neighbourhoods. Wal-Marts built five years ago are already being abandoned for superstores. We have built a world of junk, a degraded environment. It may be profitable for a short-term, but its long-term economic prognosis is bleak.' -Dolores Hayden quoting Robert Davis, 'Postscript,' in Congress for the New Urbanism, Charter of the New Urbanism, 2002. — Dolores Hayden

A constitutional amendment for congressional term limits could never achieve the blessing of Congress; it could be initiated only by the states. — Dwight D. Eisenhower

The Congress is not willing to think about the long term. They act like activist shareholders, to use that phrase again. They're not thinking about what can we do that will make us richer, safer, and stronger next year, and the year after, and five and 10 years out. — Hillary Clinton

To help U.S. workers, farmers and businesses, and America's long-term economic security, Congress should take decisive action to bring about fair trade with China, instead of squandering this opportunity on a weak Republican bill. — Joe Baca