58 Legislative Process Quotes
Following is our list of legislative process quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about legislation.
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Famous Legislative Process Quotes
The process of democracy is one of change. Our laws are not frozen into immutable form, they are constantly in the process of revision in response to the needs of a changing society. — Thurgood Marshall
Democrats legislate; Republicans investigate. — Lyndon B. Johnson
All legislation is founded upon the principle of mutual concession. — Henry Clay
Congress seems drugged and inert most of the time... its idea of meeting a problem is to hold hearings or, in extreme cases, to appoint a commission. — Shirley Chisholm
With Congress, every time they make a joke it's a law, and every time they make a law it's a joke. — Will Rogers
Laws are no longer made by a rational process of public discussion; they are made by a process of blackmail and intimidation, and they are executed in the same manner — H. L. Mencken
Question Period is not part of the legislative process,and has nothing to do with it. It is a means of monitoring the Executive that the Government cannot evade. — John Allen Fraser
No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session. — Mark Twain
Legislation can neither be wise nor just which seeks the welfare of a single interest at the expense and to the injury of many and varied interests. — Andrew Johnson
Legislators represent people, not trees or acres. Legislators are elected by voters, not farms or cities or economic interests. — Earl Warren
The political status legislation which emerged in Congress in 1990 and 1991 did not receive the support needed for enactment into law during my tenure as Attorney General. — Dick Thornburgh
Reform is a process, and not an event. — Kofi Annan
It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood. — James Madison
Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made. — Otto von Bismarck
Can any of you seriously say the Bill of Rights could get through Congress today? It wouldn't even get out of committee. — F. Lee Bailey
Legislative Branch Quotes
Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government. — James Madison
The Supreme Court and courts in general have been usurping the role of the legislative branch of government. — Todd Akin
So that the executive and legislative branches of the national government depend upon, and emanate from the states. Every where the state sovereignties are represented; and the national sovereignty, as such, has no representation. — Joseph Story
No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another; and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him. — Thomas Jefferson
I am mindful of the difference between the executive branch and the legislative branch. I assured all four of these leaders that I know the difference, and that difference is they pass the laws and I execute them. — George W. Bush
One single object . . . [will merit] the endless gratitude of the society: that of restraining the judges from usurping legislation. — Thomas Jefferson
Our executive branch does not believe in interfering with what the legislative branch chooses to do. We believe in federalism. — Kellyanne Conway
Every proper exertion has been made and will be continued to carry out the wishes of Congress in relation to the tobacco trade, as indicated in the several resolutions of the House of Representatives and the legislation of the two branches. — Martin Van Buren
In our system of government, the judicial and legislative branches have different roles. Judges are not politicians. Judges must decide cases, not champion causes. Judges must settle legal disputes, not pursue agendas. Judges must interpret and apply the law, not make the law. — Orrin Hatch
The government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government. — James Madison
Legislation Quotes
Whenever legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience. — John Locke
Don't condemn the gangbangers, they've got guns that are trafficked, that are not enforced, that are straw purchased and they come into places even that have strong gun laws. Why? Because we don't have sensible gun legislation. — Sheila Jackson Lee
One cannot legislate the maniacs off the street... these maniacs can only be shut down by an armed citizenry. Indeed bad things can happen in nations where the citizenry is armed, but not as bad as those which seem to be threatening our disarmed citizenry in this country at this time. — Jeff Cooper
Term limits would cure both senility and seniority- both terrible legislative diseases. — Harry S. Truman
No country can be called free which is governed by an absolute power; and it matters not whether it be an absolute royal power or an absolute legislative power, as the consequences will be the same to the people. — Thomas Paine
The Constitution is the origin and measure of legislative authority. It says to legislators, thus far ye shall go and no farther. Not a particle of it should be shaken; not a pebble of it should be removed. — William Paterson
The problem in society is not kids not knowing science. The problem is adults not knowing science. They outnumber kids 5 to 1, they wield power, they write legislation. When you have scientifically illiterate adults, you have undermined the very fabric of what makes a nation wealthy and strong. — Neil deGrasse Tyson
When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner. — Montesquieu
When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner. — Baron de Montesquieu
Prohibition... goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes... A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded. — Abraham Lincoln
People Writing About Legislative Process
More Legislative Process Quotes
First, the American legislative process isn't well suited to large and complex measures. — George J. Mitchell
Eastern Washington has experienced a number of deadly forest fires this season, and it is crucial that we have bipartisan legislation that will expedite the research and restoration process. — Cathy McMorris Rodgers
We all understand that compromise is part of the legislative process, yet at the same time, I would submit that wilderness is not for sale. — Nick Rahall
Lobbyists are in many cases expert technicians and capable of explaining complex and difficult subjects in a clear, understandable fashion. They engage in personal discussions with Members of Congress in which they can explain in detail the reasons for positions they advocate. Because our congressional representation is based on geographical boundaries, the lobbyists who speak for the various economic, commercial, and other functional interests of this country serve a very useful purpose and have assumed an important role in the legislative process. — John F. Kennedy
Right now, however, we're in the middle of a jobs crisis, a border crisis and a terrorism crisis like never before. All energies of the federal government and the legislative process must now be focused on immigration security. That is the only conversation we should be having at this time, immigration security. — Donald Trump
There is an increasingly pervasive sense not only of failure, but of futility. The legislative process has become a cruel shell game and the service system has become a bureaucratic maze, inefficient, incomprehensible, and inaccessible. — Elliot Richardson
This has not been a legislative process worthy of the Senate. Members of the Judiciary Committee, as I just said, were implored to save their amendments for the floor. Then, when we got here, we were told no amendments could be accepted. — Russ Feingold
I learned some valuable lessons about the legislative process, the importance of bipartisan cooperation and the wisdom of taking small steps to get a big job done. — Hillary Clinton
We`ll go through the legislative process and I`m make it clear what I support, don`t support and what I think is good for Arkansas. — Tom Cotton
Going through the legislative process is always better, in part because it's harder to undo. — Barack Obama
President-elect Trump has the vision. And what Mike Pence brings to the table as vice president-elect is somebody who knows Capitol Hill. So he can take Donald Trump's vision, help translate that into actual policy, legislative language, bill text, working through the process so that it ends up back on Donald Trump's desk so that he can sign it into law. — Jeb Hensarling
The most significant impact is what it does in terms of the integrity of the legislative process and the executive process, as opposed to what it does for campaigns. But to remove this unheard of process in the 1990s, where members of Congress are being pushed and shoved every Tuesday to ask for $100,000, $500,000, a million dollars from corporations, unions, and individuals, this was never allowed in American history. — Russ Feingold
From where you sit, the White House may look as untidy as the inside of a stomach. As is said of the legislative process, sausage-making and policy-making shouldn't be seen close-up. Don't let that panic you. Things may be going better than they look from the inside. — Donald Rumsfeld
The military gave me structure and process. That reflects on the way I believe we should handle legislative matters. If we do it that way in any field, the results are usually better. — Ralph Abraham
That will change over time the entire flow of information and the entire quality of knowledge in the country and it will change the way people will try to play games in the legislative process. — Newt Gingrich
Rather than passing a thousand pages of tax reform legislation and restarting the tax code manipulation process, we should change the paradigm. It is time to eliminate the IRS and repeal the 16th Amendment. — Jim Bridenstine
I think people everywhere have a very dismaying feeling that politics are going over their heads, are being decided by wealthy interests that don't take them into consideration. And are bending the legislative process in their own behalf. — Alexander Stille
People underestimate the impact they can have on the process through contact with legislators. By being part of an organized group in an area that you have an interest in, you can multiply the impact of your own ideas. — Ralph Regula
There are certain things that we can accomplish by law and there are certain things that we cannot accomplish by law or by any process of government. We cannot legislate intelligence. We cannot legislate morality. Nor can we legislate loyalty, for loyalty is a kind of morality. — Alfred Whitney Griswold
If we do not halt this steady process of building commissions and regulatory bodies and the special legislation like huge inverted pyramids over every one of the simple constitutional provisions, we shall soon be spending many billions of dollars more. — Franklin D. Roosevelt
Whether we write lyrics or craft legislation, sell homes or teach classes, design spaces or open franchises, prayer is a critical part of the creative process. Don’t just brainstorm; praystorm. — Mark Batterson
Creating legislation is a tough process. But watering down legislation? Strangling it with lawsuits and comment letters and blue-ribbon committees? Not so tough, it turns out. — Matt Taibbi
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