John McCain Quotes on Congress (18 Quotes)

Some of us in Congress are so distrustful of the president that we feel obliged to damage the office in order to restrain the current occupant,

I think that it's very appropriate for the Congress to have hearings on the whole issue. Fine, let's have hearings. It's appropriate after every conflict to have hearings. I'm satisfied that Saddam Hussein not only had weapons of mass destruction, but if we had not overthrown him, he would have went back to pursuing the development of weapons of mass destruction.

I would never want to see myself viewed as beating the drums of war, ... but I would rather live with that image than look into the mirror and see a member of Congress who failed to do his duty.

I hope the Congress of the United States would pass a law and I would sign it permanently banning taxation on the Internet,

Congress, no less than the administration, must show the resolve and confidence of a superpower who's cause is just and imperative.

And despite a short and crowded legislative calendar, and the fact that this is an election year, I believe we must take legislative action and action within the Congress to reorganize our oversight responsibilities,

I believe the Congress of the United States will move forward on this issue. And I believe the American people expect us to, ... Face The Nation.

My colleagues are getting nervous. We talk a lot about the president's unfavorable ratings. Have you noticed the ratings of Congress lately

There are so many allegations swirling around this situation that we must have a public hearing with the secretary of defense testifying in order to clear up these allegations. Not an hour goes by that there isn't an additional allegation, and unfortunately the Congress in general and the Senate Armed Services Committee in particular have been, up until this morning, kept completely in the dark.

the vice president does not discuss private conversations that he has with members of Congress . . . or information that may be exchanged with members.

The problem... is that most members of Congress don't pay attention to what's going on.

Today more people lose their seats in the Politburo in Havana than in the Congress of America, ... We need to have competitive races for the Legislature. ... We have to have a clash of ideas.

Let us have the administration come to Congress. I think they will get that authority, whatever is reasonable and needed, and increased abilities to monitor communications are clearly in order.

Congress and the American people have good reason to fear that we are heading toward another permanent garrison of Americans in a Balkan country where our mission is confused, and our exit strategy a complete mystery.

All this leaves McCain less than optimistic. The fact that his bill got 54 votes in this past session, almost all of them Democratic, doesn't mean much. Everyone knew it wouldn't pass, so it was a free gesture. Let's accept the premise that Congress is not going to institute a reform that changes a system that dramatically favors incumbents, ... So what would make them change would only be public opinion and pressure. Some of us believe that pressure is strong and is going to get stronger as a result of the Thompson committee hearings. The question is, 'Is that pressure going to be strong enough'

one of the more Byzantine kind of scenarios that I have observed in the years that I have been in Congress.

The Congress should have been notified of this situation a long time ago. It's a neglect of the responsibilities that Secretary Rumsfeld and the civilian leaders of the Pentagon have to keep the Congress informed of an issue of this magnitude.

What we've seen in the past is an irresistible temptation on the part of some members of Congress to use these emergency supplements as a vehicle to lard on pork-barrel projects which are in no way related,