Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise this afternoon to say a few words about a critical challenge and opportunity facing the United States. For months many of us have been on the floor debating some of the important foreign policy and national security issues that our Nation faces--whether it is Islamic terrorism, ISIS, the President's flawed and dangerous Iran agreement or a resurgent Russia in Europe and the Arctic. The list of these issues is long, and it is growing. But one issue that has not really gotten much attention--I believe the attention that it deserves--and that I would like to speak about this afternoon is the long-term national security and foreign policy consequences of the rise of China. China's President Xi Jinping is in town right now. He is visiting America. He is going to meet with President Obama on a state visit, and some of us in Congress will have an opportunity to meet with him later today. It is an opportunity to start seriously thinking about the challenges and opportunities that a rising China presents to the world and to the United States. Perhaps we are not talking about this issue as much as we should on the floor because it doesn't seem to be an immediate issue. It is a bit of a longer term matter. But it is also something that in historical terms is happening so fast. I will give one statistic. In 1980 China's economy was smaller than that of the Netherlands.…”