Policy Debate Quotes

Betsy DeVos is not the most informed person on education policy, but I have seen her present a few times, and she presents as a pretty respectable, intelligent person who has cared passionately about education and cares about charter schools.

I think what we have to do is speak about the issues and speak about my record.

You can't go do the Green New Deal, but Republicans can't just criticize the ideas of Democrats without proposing an alternative.

Politics is a field where the choice lies constantly between two blunders.

Nine times out of ten your two smartest policy advisors disagree.

If we're not in the debates there will be no real discussion of climate change, because Hillary Clinton's policy does not begin to address the threat.

Politicians are trying to attract people to issues.

He has attempted to muddy the waters, but I think anyone that watched the battle that we had - you know, there was a time for choosing, as Ronald Reagan put it, where there was a battle over amnesty. And some chose, like Sen. Marco Rubio, to stand with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and support a massive amnesty plan.

The Fed's policy choices can always be debated, but the quality and commitment of the Federal Reserve as a public institution is second to none, and I am proud to lead it.

When I hear President Trump suggest policy ideas that run counter to American ideals, I speak out. In the same vein, when my constituents disagree with me, I welcome and champion their right to speak out.

Can policy be both wise and aggressively partisan? Ask any Republican worth his salt and the answer will be an unequivocal yes. Ask a Democrat of the respectable Beltway variety and he will twist himself into a pretzel denying it.

Politics is almost as exciting as war, and quite as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times.

My policies are multi-ethnic and certainly not racist.

I'm not a policy wonk - I'm somewhere between being undecided and a surrogate.

The great thing about this town hall format is that it allows us to hear what's on the minds of Americans. Tonight, it was clear - voters have quite a few questions about the direction in which the current administration is headed.

When politicians seek to restrict political speech, it is invariably to protect their own incumbency and avoid having to defend their policies in the marketplace of ideas.

To be effective in Congress, you must focus. With so many issues and debates occurring at any given time, it is easy to spread yourself too thin and lose sight of your goal.

I try not to make political arguments personal. It doesn't help and it switches a lot of people off. The real questions: Will we have peace? Will we have justice? Will we have pensions? Will we have free education? Will we have public services? .... those are the sort of things which interest me. I don't think that having a go at individuals really helps get your point across apart from anything else.

We should vigorously debate policy differences. We have too much all-or-nothing in American politics.

Whether I'm reading a national publication or one of my local Chicago newspapers, I don't need to turn too many pages before I stumble upon another scandal. Not only do ethics violations deteriorate the public trust, but they also disrupt and undermine legitimate debate and policy.

NDAA should be about providing critical funding for our troops, not debating immigration policy.

People in New Hampshire know that I'll talk thoughtfully, substantively about any issue.

I went through six years of battles on health care because I didn't have $100 million worth of advertising saying how it would never work.

I hate picking a bone with Paul Ryan; he's a friend of mine, but I think he needs to walk and chew gum at the same time.

America deserves a real discussion about real policy.