Ron Wyden Quotes (45 Quotes)

I don't care who you love. If you love this country enough to risk your life for it, you shouldn't have to hide who you are.

I think it just looks absurd for us constantly to shovel out tax breaks when executives go on television and say they aren't needed, ... They don't need tax incentives.

His answer was, 'I am concerned with judicial independence. Congress can prescribe standards, but when Congress starts to act like a court and prescribe particular remedies in particular cases, Congress has overstepped its bounds.'

now strikes a much fairer balance by protecting critical rights for our country's citizens and advancing intelligence operations to meet our security needs.

That's an astounding theory of consumer protection,

This corporation resorted to a variety of legal, regulatory and accounting contortions to keep investors and the public in the dark, ... It is now high time for the Congress to flip on the light and get to the bottom of this situation.

This proposal breaks faith with rural folks all across the West and will make it harder to find bipartisan legislative solutions in the future,

Everybody comes to a hearing, and they could be giving the same position paper from 10 years ago. All they need to do is change the dates, ... If you look at the tapestry of environmental legislation today . . . both sides have the capacity to block each other.

My intention to vote for Judge Roberts tomorrow should in no way be construed as a weather vane for how I might vote on the next nominee, ... In the past I have not hesitated to vote against several of the president's nominees to the Courts of Appeal when they carried the ideological and activist baggage that I believe would be disruptive to our society.

My sense is that, when you look at what people such as former Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein have said over the years, you don't go with a story unless you have two independent sources to confirm it.

I'll tell you, gentlemen, it's this kind of case that makes many of us in Congress skeptical that it's actually a new day,

But Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said that last week's breakthroughs were less the result of shrewd parliamentary maneuvering than of simple arithmetic GOP majorities in the House and the Senate, combined with a Republican in the White House. Elections matter, ... When you control all three branches of government, you've got a lot to work with to drive your agenda.

In today's world, it is shortsighted to think that infectious diseases cannot cross borders. By allowing developing countries access to generic drugs, we not only help improve health in those nations, we also help ourselves control these debilitating and often deadly diseases.

at least puts a band-aid on a flawed policy.

The Bush administration did stop filling the reserve in 2002 when it helped the oil industry. Now they should do it to help the consumer.

I think we have to ask this administration, and the President specifically, about using their political capital now to stand up for the American consumer who is getting clobbered by these gasoline and oil prices.

It is hard to see Judge Roberts as a judicial activist who would place ideological purity or a particular agenda above or ahead the need for thoughtful legal reasoning.

Do businesses want one standard to govern the privacy rules in this country or do they want 50 ... If they want some measure of preemption, they have got to support a bill with some meaningful privacy protection.

We're looking for the right vehicle to get this important provision into law and get some cost containment into the Medicare benefit.

Now, the supposed justifications for restart have completely evaporated and the funds that are being wasted will go where they have long belonged into cleaning up the environment that adjoins our lifeblood, the Columbia River, ... After years of indecision, the people of the Pacific Northwest deserve to have the money used to clean up the contamination at Hanford rather than on some wild good chase.

the government isn't in the consumer protection business anymore.

It's brute power. Much of this is about who's the last in the room, and it reflects badly on the Congress.

There is an old saying that all roads lead to Rome. It seems the administration so often clearly believes that no matter what the evidence was at any particular time, essentially everything led to Saddam Hussein.

We're not mandating fluffier pillows or creating a legal right to a bigger bag of peanuts. What we're troubled by is that unlike other retail establishments, the airline industry basically keeps you in the dark. Our bill is basically about getting good information and empowering the consumer.

We are deputizing the military to spy on law-abiding Americans in America. This is a huge leap without even a congressional hearing,

This is indeed a concern, ... We will tackle it.

I believe very strongly that no jurisdiction in this country has shown that they have been hurt by their inability to impose discriminatory taxes against the Internet, ... State and local governments have a right to be concerned about where their revenue is coming from, but they should not be able to view the Internet as a cyber cash cow and treat it differently from other forms of commerce.

Oregon's fishing industry is a critical part of our state's economy, and it will benefit in many ways from this Federal support approved today, ... The dollars included in this bill will also go toward improving Oregon's tsunami readiness, while also giving a boost to our state's cutting-edge oceanic research for the benefit of Oregon and the nation as a whole.

The idea of a federal betting parlor on atrocities and terrorism is ridiculous and it's grotesque.

If he's accurately quoted, I must say, it's outrageous, ... You all have indicated to us that you do not target children.

We want to give the department real teeth to protect the public. This would give the federal government meaningful authority.

If we are going to have a health care program that works for all Americans, we are going to have to get beyond the blame game.

Today's modest action starts the long march to start to reform the tax breaks as they relate to the oil industry, and limits these incentives to the smaller oil companies that actually need the help the most,

She will face some very significant questioning, I believe, in the hearings, but she certainly deserves the benefit of the doubt.

It's time to look beyond the budget ax to assure access to health care for all. It's time to look for bipartisan solutions to the problems we can tackle today, and to work together for tomorrow - building a health care system that works for all Americans.

This house better get cleaned up in six months. The swamp is going to have to be drained pretty quickly.

It's time to force these objections out of the shadows and into the sunshine.

The testimony I have read makes it clear that additional resources are needed and needed now, ... There is neither the time, nor a need, to wait for a torturous legislative process to begin equipping fire companies now.

It is imperative that the federal government fully comply with the reporting requirements. The National Practitioner Data Bank is only as good as the information it contains.

But her declarations weren't strong enough to convince some senators. Gale Norton is no James Watt, but that distinction alone is not enough to justify this nomination, ... I will vote 'no.'

Many health care providers, particularly physicians in rural and urban areas, are leaving the Government programs because of inadequate reimbursement rates.

Every single day, the flood of pornographic and sleazy spam grows.

We have a bit more direction today than before, but . . . there is still a long way to go.

I want to get this done, ... I want a strong bill to go to the president's desk, and, based on this hearing, I think we have a lot of work to do.

I asked whether it was constitutional for Congress to intervene in an end-of-life case with a specific remedy,