Dan Webster
Dan Webster
Daniel Alan Websteris an American politician who has been a member of the United States House of Representatives since 2011. Webster, a Republican from Florida, initially represented Florida's 8th congressional district; since 2013, his district has been numbered the 10th district, located in the central part of the state. Previously, Webster served 28 years in the Florida state legislature...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth27 April 1949
CountryUnited States of America
Let's take up the most important issues first. Let's take up the reauthorizations first; let's take up the appropriations bill first, not wait until four days beforehand - no one has mentioned anything, and, all of a sudden, somebody looks at their watch and says, 'Hey, in four days, the government is going to run out of money.'
You lay out a plan and - say a three-year plan or a two-year plan - and say, 'This is what we can do. We can do the transportation packages, like the highway bill and the water bill, and we can do some of these other areas - a farm bill - whatever it is, we lay out a schedule, and we put that committee to work to do that.'
If you push down that pyramid of power and spread out the base, every member gets a chance to file their bill and have it heard and file their amendment and have it heard, as opposed to the system that we have now, which closes out, closes down bills, limits debate, and so forth.
We passed a bill in 1997, signed by Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles, which created a pilot program for a novel experiment called Florida Virtual School. The notion of children using a computer for a classroom and reporting to virtual teachers wasn't exactly mainstream thinking in those days.
There are amendments never offered, there are bills never heard, that are basically killed because of the process.
You have got to clean your own house first before you tell other people that they aren't doing it right.
What really promotes business in this country is liberty, not demand for information.
Every member of Congress deserves a seat at the table to be involved in the process. I will continue fighting for this to become a reality in Washington, and will be running for speaker of the House.
Every member in Congress has a seat, and they deserve a seat at the table.
The principle is that every member needs to represent their district.
My job was to get a fair and open hearing to all ideas.
I was Speaker of the House in Florida, first Republican speaker in 120 years. And I totally dismantled the way this House worked and turned it around to what I believe is right.
If we do our job right, then we have everything to stand on. If we don't do our job, we have everything to lose on.
I'm a homing pigeon. When I'm in Tallahassee, I give everything I have to being, hopefully, the best legislator I can be. When I'm home, I'm home. I try to not do legislative stuff. That brings a balance to life.