Patrick McHenry Quotations

It's often difficult for conservatives to separate overall government intervention from a question as simple as the census.

Conservatives need to know how important it is to fill out the census. It is one of the only things our Constitution specifically asks of U.S. citizens and boycotting will just help liberals expand government even further.

I think we need to start with Philadelphia and make sure that we actually get some election reform in Philadelphia. Actually, a recent election was thrown out by a federal judge because of corruption with the voting process in Philadelphia.

I got into the race and people literally laughed. They thought I had no chance of winning.

Marginal tax rates are the lowest they've been in generations, and all we can talk about is tax cuts.

The people's desires have changed, but we're still stuck in our old issue set.

We absolutely need to reform the Congressional budget-writing process.

I got into the race and people literally laughed, ... They thought I had no chance of winning.

I got a lot of pressure over a period of about two weeks, and I held my ground, ... I was committed to a cause.

I thought it would take years for a new member to become a player, ... It's better than I expected.

We have to make the system solvent going forward. We have to make it a pay as you go system. We can't afford the rapid rising costs.

We need to act sooner rather than later.

We've had a large undermining of our traditional values in this country. And I think that was a repercussion of the hippies in the '60s and their 'anything goes' attitude. Our generation has a realistic approach. We're not sort of pie-in-the-sky people.

We got a number of good things done this year. It's rewarding to turn an idea into law.

It was to set a tone, ... Just because the average age on our team is 10 years older, just because they're 100 pounds bigger and a foot taller, we would not be the demure members of Congress. We would actually be aggressive.

Often a blank slate gets to the court and then leans to the left,

This place is a much more sophisticated junior high school. There are the nice guys that everybody likes, the jocks, the geeks, the bullies ? they're all here. It's a representative democracy.

It's better to have this time now than 14 months from now, (but) we have to start talking to the base, or they will stay home.

It's what a partisan hack would do, and that's what we have in Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. And this is what you're putting forward.

If you stop one terror attack in the U.S., it may be connected to multiple other plots out there that are connected. If you reveal that you stopped one plot, it may tip our hand.

If you stop one terror attack in the U.S., it may be connected to multiple other plots out there that are connected. If you reveal that you stopped one plot, it may tip our hand.

Its often difficult for conservatives to separate overall government intervention from a question as simple as the census.

Letting someone down is not criminal action.