Bob Latta Quotes

There are only two powers that matter in the bureaucracy of Washington: The power to say ‘Here’s your money,” and the power to say “You’re fired!”

It is therefore not to be wondered at that Lincoln's single term in the House of Representatives at Washington added practically nothing to his reputation.

I grew up in that world of power and politics in Washington, but when you grow up around it, you are completely unfazed by it.

Washington is a one issue city ... whatever dominates the headlines.

In Washington, common sense policy is considered bold.

I tell Administration officials this is the science. This is the recommendation. What they do with it is beyond my control.

I'm sorry that we have to have a Washington presence. We thrived during our first 16 years without any of this. I never made a political visit to Washington and we had no people here. It wasn't on our radar screen. We were just making great software.

George H.W. Bush said we will lead on climate change, and we'll lead from the top. That was 30 years ago. And now Republicans can't even acknowledge that climate change is human caused or real because of the outside spending in our elections.

The decisions we make in Washington have a direct impact on the people in our country, obviously.

You think the military-industrial complex is powerful in Washington? The Health Care complex spends 4 times as much on lobbying.

The only law Washington can be counted on to respect: It is the law of dispersed costs but concentrated benefits

Nostalgia should not set policy.

… lobbyist-larded Washington

Another reason commissions are able to produce consensus—perhaps the rarest of Washington commodities—is the simple opportunity they provide for intense private deliberations.

Public opinion is very important in the United States. It affects the way Congress deals with issues.

Politics is a leading indicator.

I’m going to take Tennessee ideas to Washington and make them work for the country.

In Washington, every closet has a revolving door.

We live in a country where Wall Street owns Washington.

You really don’t know what you don’t know until you’re here. [The White House]

If you are the executive, you're probably going to have more of an impact than if you're one of a hundred members of the Senate, certainly one of 435 members of the House.

The different Washington, D.C.-based groups and the different special interest groups, they all want to be able to pick who they want to be a senator. They don't speak for everyone, and they definitely don't speak for Oklahomans.

It is no secret that Washington, D.C., is a tempest of people and institutions relentlessly seeking power over the lives of everyday Americans.

The frustration of Washington is you have to concentrate on just a few areas to really make a difference, and then so much of the power is at the top, at the committee chairman level.

We're a small state. Our quantity of representation in Washington is not as large as a Texas, an Ohio, or a New York. So when decisions are made on the federal level, our voice can get drowned out.