Members Of The United States Senate

"We have to understand, we are an anomaly in history. The historical norm is pharaohs, kings, dictators, emperors, presidents for life. But the fact that we're such an anomaly, and we've seen in our lifetimes other governments, other systems based upon ours slip into authoritarianism and dictatorship tells us how fragile what we have is. What we have in this country is an anomaly in history and it's fragile, and it needs to be, must be, protected from generation to generation. This makes this moment all the more urgent and portentous."

"I picked a few examples, but my final example is the power seemingly assumed by DOGE to burrow into the treasury's payment system, and now CMS for undefined purposes, zero oversight and raises questions up to and including threats to national security. Do these people have clearance? Are the doors closed? Are they going to leave open doors into these? What are the opportunities for our adversaries to hack into the systems? We're already under unprecedented cyberattack and we're opening doors, although it's impossible to determine what they're taking. Remember there's no transparency or oversight. Access to social security numbers seem to be in the mix. All the government's personnel files, personal financial data, potentially everyone's tax returns and medical records. That can't be good. That can't be good. That's data that should be protected with the highest level of security and consideration of Americans' privacy. And we don't know who these people are. We don't know what they're taking out with them. We don't know whether they're walking out with laptops or thumb drives. We don't know whether they're leaving back doors into the system. There is literally no oversight. The government of the United States is not a private company. It is fundamentally at odds with how this system is supposed to work. Shouldn't this be an easy redline?"

"We have to keep our eye on the big picture. Not all the confusion and smoke that's going on over the last couple of weeks. Mr. Vought is one of the principal authors of the infamous Project 2025 which the President strangely hadn't heard of during the campaign but now seems to be the essential guideline for his presidency. Project 2025 is nothing less than a blueprint for the shredding of the constitution and the transition of our country to authoritarian rule. He's the last person who should be put in the heart of the operation of our government."

"How did they answer the question who will guard the guardians? They answered it by building into the basic structure of our government two essential safeguards. One was regular elections. In other words, returning the control of the government to the people on regular scheduled elections. By the way, this is what we learned in sixth grade, checks and balances. But the other piece that's built into our system that's the other essential safeguard is the deliberate division of power between the branches and levels of government."

"The cumbersomeness, the slowness, the clumsiness is built into our system. The framers were so fearful of concentrated power that they designed a system that would be hard to operate. And the heart of it was the separation of power between various parts of the government. The whole idea, the whole idea was that no part of the government, no one person, no one institution had or could ever have a monopoly on power. Why? Because it's dangerous. History and human nature tells us that. This division of power as annoying and inefficient as it can be, particularly to the executive, I know because I used to be a governor, is an essential feature of the system, not a bug. It's an essential, basic feature of the system, designed to protect our freedoms."

"Our framers understood this. They were deep students of history and also human nature. And they had just won a lengthy and brutal war against the abuses inherent in concentrated governmental power, George III. The universal principle of human nature they understood was this — power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That's a universal principle, all over the world throughout history."

"We're experiencing in real time exactly what the framers most feared. When you clear away the smoke, clear away the DOGE, the executive orders, foreign pronouncements, more fundamentally what's happening is the shredding of the constitutional structure itself. -->"

"Power is shared, principally between the President and this body, this Congress, both houses. In fact, this herky-jerkiness, the two houses, the war power divided between the President and Congress, this unwieldy structure is the whole idea. No one has or should ever have all the power."

"Jefferson said the states are the laboratories of democracy. But the problem is, nobody reads the lab reports. We've got every state trying to reinvent everything. I was struck even more so after this trip how little exchange there is among states that are coping with exactly the same issues."

"The Southwest was spectacular, but I have no interest in moving there. North Carolina is beautiful in spring and fall. But I can say I didn't find anyplace I'd rather live than Maine."

"When people asked me in a RV park, "What do you do?" I just said, "I'm a retired state employee from Maine.""

"I always had a kind of Myth of Cincinnatus idea about politics — that public service was something you do for a while in between stints at real life. And when your time is up, you return to the plow, which is hopefully still somewhere close to where you left it."

"You have to take advantage of the opportunities that life gives you, particularly the moments in time when you have time, when you're between jobs or you retire. Get out and go. I think most of us are way too intense. We need to take a deep breath and do things that maybe don't fit the normal picture of what we're supposed to do at that stage of life. In some ways, this book is one big argument for just plain loosening up."

"One of the real benefits of any travel is gaining some perspective. You see things from different points of view. That came home to me in a variety of ways: politically, economically, seeing what was going on in other states."

"I don't have any illusions that I'm naively going to go down and Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell are going to say, "Angus, tell us how to do this." I mean, I know that's not going to work. But I think, No. 1, my election would send a significant message and, No. 2, it might provoke similar movements in other states. If there were four or five people like me, that would change the whole dynamic."

"I had no intention of getting back into politics. I was teaching at Bowdoin and happily retired from politics."

"We could send down a combination of Pericles and Thomas Jefferson, and if that person's reporting to Harry Reid [Senate Majority Leader] or Mitch McConnell [Senate Minority Leader], he's going to be ineffective. … Every vote is a test vote. Every vote is party loyalty. We're sunk if it keeps up this way. … It wouldn't take but four or five centrists like me to completely change the dynamics."

"We began our careers here with the following words, "I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic." When each of us arrived here in the Senate, we took this oath to support and defend the constitution and as it says against all enemies foreign and domestic. I think it's interesting that the framers concede that there might be domestic enemies to the constitution. Our oath was not to the Republican Party, not to the Democratic Party, not to Joe Biden, not to Donald Trump, but our oath was to defend the constitution. And right now — right now literally at this moment that constitution is under the most direct and consequential assault in our nation's history. An assault not on a particular provision but on the essential structure of the document itself. It's hard to grasp what is happening because of all the events that are swirling around us over the last several weeks. It's coming from so many different quarters and so many different actors. It's hard to get a picture of what's really happening fundamentally. But this is an assault, and how we respond to it will define our life's work, our place in history, and the future of our country. None of us will ever face a greater challenge."

"My approach to the job can be summed up pretty simply — I never viewed politics as my career. Important, yes, worthy of intense commitment, of course — but it was not my whole life. … I saw politics as a way to make a contribution and satisfy my penchant for public policy, but not as something I couldn't live without."

"We proved that with civility, common sense, building bridges, working with coalitions and working with people one at a time, we could do something. … I can speak for the middle. … The real issue is the system itself."

"If you like the system as it is, I’m not your guy… If you want a shot at changing it, join me."

"Frankly, I think I might scare [the parties], and that would be a good thing."

"I think I can honestly say that if Olympia had announced her retirement because of ill health or to spend more time with Jock I probably wouldn't have run. … What perked me up is why she is leaving. Olympia has 30 years of seniority, she's likable, she works very hard, and if she can't make it work, nobody in either party is going to make it work. … I don't have any illusions it will be easy, but I do think particularly if the two parties are closely divided, I will have an influence … I might have a chance of starting a movement toward change in this broken system. This country has serious problems, but you can't address them if the institution set up to address the problems is broken."

"There's a paradox at the heart of the creation of any government, whether it's here or anywhere else on Earth, and anywhere else in history. There's a paradox built in, because the essence of creating government is to give it power, give it our power, in order to look after us, in order to provide for the common defense, to ensure domestic tranquility, to provide justice to our people. In other words, we're giving our power to this separate entity. But we have to do so with the realization that the power that's being given has the potential to be abused. In other words, how do we give power to this entity, this government, and ensure that the government itself doesn't use that power to abuse us as citizens? This is a question at the heart of all political discussion throughout history. The Romans even had a question that captured it. The question was, "quis custodiet, ipsos custodes?" It means who will guard the guardians? Who will guard those who we have given power to guard us? It's a fundamental question that's confronted every society and every government throughout history."

"I think I can honestly say that if Olympia had announced her retirement because of ill health or to spend more time with Jock I probably wouldn't have run. … What perked me up is why she is leaving. Olympia has 30 years of seniority, she's likable, she works very hard, and if she can't make it work, nobody in either party is going to make it work."

"You know what’s laughable about the Republicans panicking over the fact that Olympia Snowe retiring means that we might lose the Senate? As far as I’m concerned, with her in it, we never had it. That’s been the problem. With Olympia Snowe in the Senate as a Republican, we’ve never had the Senate as Republicans … She didn’t vote with Republicans; she didn’t vote with conservatives. This is no great loss."

"Senator Snowe's career demonstrates how much can be accomplished when leaders from both parties come together to do the right thing for the American people."

"Snowe is one of the few remaining moderate Republicans, a group that once dominated the Northeast and vied for control of the national Republicans under leaders such as Nelson Rockefeller. She was instrumental in forcing President George W. Bush to limit the size of his 2001 tax cut. She was one of three Senate Republicans who backed President Barack Obama's 2009 stimulus plan. But Snowe found it increasingly difficult to reach across party lines that kept moving further apart."

"What are our obligations to the country and to the people we represent? It's the coming up with effective solutions, sitting down and working with the issues. Sitting around table and sorting through the differences. You can never solve a problem without talking to people with whom you disagree. The United States Senate is predicated and based on consensus building. That was certainly the vision of the founding fathers. And if we abandon that approach, then we do it at the expense of the country and the issues that we need to address to put us back on track."

"We are not working out issues anymore. We are working on a parallel universe, with competing proposals, up or down votes."

"Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe's decision to retire from the Senate caused a scramble Wednesday among potential Democratic and Republican candidates just two weeks before a deadline to qualify for the June primary ballot. … Former independent Gov. Angus King and former independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler also were weighing runs. … Cutler, for his part, is a former Democrat but he told The Associated Press that if he runs, he'd do it as an independent. Also considering a bid was King, another independent. He said he'll decide within a few days even though independents aren't bound by the March 15 deadline. "I'm giving it some thought for the very reason that Olympia quit. It's just not working down there and maybe we need to try something different," King said Wednesday. "We have serious problems in this country but we can't begin to solve them until we solve this shrill deadlock.""

"I understand that the hyper-partisanship in Washington makes people feel alienated. They're frustrated and they're angry, and they should be, but they can do something about it. We've got to turn it around. I'm concerned it's going to become institutionalized. … Make candidates accountable for making government work. That should be a debate question: What are you going to do to make government work? You can't sit on your hands and say, "No, I want it 100% my way." I don't know how this evolved, but I find it irrational — you don't demand that in any other sphere of life. The country is now in a virtual standstill. We can't begin to measure the reverberation of all this legislative neglect five, six, or whatever years into the future."

"It's not healthy for the country to have parties with polar opposite views without that bridge that you need to build consensus."

"Ultimately, we're heading to having the smallest political tent in history, the way events have been unfolding. If the Republican Party fully intends to become a majority party in the future, it must move from the far right back toward the middle."

"I do find it frustrating … that an atmosphere of polarization and "my way or the highway" ideologies has become pervasive in campaigns and in our governing institutions. With my Spartan ancestry I am a fighter at heart; and I am well prepared for the electoral battle, so that is not the issue. However, what I have had to consider is how productive an additional term would be. Unfortunately, I do not realistically expect the partisanship of recent years in the Senate to change over the short term. So at this stage of my tenure in public service, I have concluded that I am not prepared to commit myself to an additional six years in the Senate, which is what a fourth term would entail. As I enter a new chapter, I see a vital need for the political center in order for our democracy to flourish and to find solutions that unite rather than divide us. It is time for change in the way we govern, and I believe there are unique opportunities to build support for that change from outside the United States Senate. I intend to help give voice to my fellow citizens who believe, as I do, that we must return to an era of civility in government driven by a common purpose to fulfill the promise that is unique to America."

"I think we're going to demonstrate the power of one-to-one computer access that's going to transform education. … The economic future will belong to the technologically adept."

"Michael Jordan did not get good at basketball by practicing 42 minutes a week, which is what most kids have in the computer lab. … Whether it's a scalpel, baseball bat or a computer, the skill in the use of a tool rests upon practice and familiarity, and that's what these kids are going to have to an unprecedented extent."

"I'm giving it some thought for the very reason that Olympia quit. It's just not working down there and maybe we need to try something different. … We have serious problems in this country but we can't begin to solve them until we solve this shrill deadlock."

"Godspeed, John Glenn."

"Could this have just happened? . . . I can’t believe that ... Some Power put all this into orbit and keeps it there."

"I don't think many people remember what life was like in those days … This was the era when the Russians were claiming superiority, and they could make a pretty good case — they put up Sputnik in '57; they had already sent men into space to orbit the earth… There was this fear that perhaps communism was the wave of the future. The astronauts, all of us, really believed we were locked in a battle of democracy versus communism, where the winner would dominate the world."

"I pray every day and I think everybody should. I don't think you can be up here and look out the window as I did the first day and look out at the Earth from this vantage point. We're not so high compared to people who went to the moon and back. But to look out at this kind of creation out here and not believe in God is, to me, impossible. It just strengthens my faith."

"The most important thing we can do is inspire young minds and to advance the kind of science, math and technology education that will help youngsters take us to the next phase of space travel."

"To me, there is no greater calling … If I can inspire young people to dedicate themselves to the good of mankind, I've accomplished something."

"Do you realize I was actually on your side of this issue when I was chairing that committee and I first heard about this? I thought it must be true until I found out what it would cost."

"We don't stop and realize that we are dealing with people—the far-left doesn't think we need a military to start with, they really don't. You've heard me say this before, they really believe if all countries would just stand in a circle and unilaterally disarm and hold hands then all threats would go away, they believe that. They would never say that but they do believe that."

"In the United States at the start of the new millenium, climate skepticism was on the rise, fueled by the ascension of the George W. Bush administration, which had deep roots in the oil industry. Bush repudiated any effort at carbon control soon after taking office, and underlings in his administration routinely pressured federal scientists to alter their reports or stop talking to reporters. On Capitol Hill, no one captured the spirit of the moment more fully than Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, who famously called global warming a "hoax" and used his position as the chair of the relevant Senate committee to block any legislation. The recipient of massive amounts of campaign funding from the oil and gas industries that dominated the Oklahoma economy, Inhofe used his position to put forward an ongoing critique of mainstream science. The reader should know that virtually all the scientific attacks the Senator makes have been answered over and over at least as far back as [Ross] Gelbspan's book"

"Well actually the Genesis 8:22 that I use in there is that "as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night," my point is, God's still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous."

"You might remember, it was 2003 when I made the statement that the idea that manmade gases, CO2, are causing catastrophic global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. I was hated at that time, but now people realize I was right. That, by the way, is the title of my book that's going to come out in January."

"We're both doing the Lord's work, Noel."