Political Quotes

“last night we had several hours of debate and that debate was around the issue of the Foreign Relations Revitalization Act relating to Taiwan. As we addressed the disposition of the conference report, this particular portion received a good deal of scrutiny. There were a lot of words spoken, a lot of technical interpretations. What I am going to do today is simplify that debate by referring to the Taiwan Relations Act as the law of the land. I will also give a brief explanation of the section that was the subject of the debate, but I will use the actual factual language, as well as definitions, not just personal interpretations. I was surprised by the debate surrounding one provision in particular, and that was section 1601, which states that sections 3(a) and 3(b) of the Taiwan Relations Act supersede any provision of the 1982 joint communique between the United States and China. I was surprised by the debate because, obviously, a number of people seem to be cloudy on just what 'supersede' means. Allow me to clear up any misconceptions of that term. The Oxford dictionary refers to the term 'supersede' specifically as 'overrides, takes precedence over.' That definition seems pretty clear to me, Mr. President. The administration indicated it is going to veto the entire conference report, in part because of opposition to section 1601, even though that section only restates reality.”