Political Quotes

“I have a long prepared statement which I will submit for the Record, but I would ask my colleagues today to think about this legislation very strongly. I have talked privately with the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski), and they say that the bill that they are proposing does not do the job. That tells me one thing: the bill that they are promoting does not do the job, and this bill does. We worked very closely to get a bill and came very nearly to having a bill. Some people did not see it that way. But my main goal was to have the best security bill for our people. I believe my bill does that. It is not perfect, but I can tell my colleagues the Senate bill is nowhere as near as my bill. If my colleagues vote for the substitute, which some of my colleagues are planning on doing, they are not going to have a conference. That has already been decided. It will be on the President's desk, and the American people will be told by certain people that they will be secure in their airports, but we will have the exact same system that is in place right now, which has failed miserably. All of my colleagues know that. This has become a political football, and I stayed out of that, because I want the best security for the people of America. I want to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica), who has done an outstanding job, and the staff has done a good job on this issue and, yes, the President of the United States.”