Political Quotes

“the Appropriations Committee proposed a cut of funding to $13 million. I do not think we are involved, here, in a bean-counting debate. The question is, what does it take to do the job? If we go back to the initiation of the framework agreement, I think many of us were under the assumption that this would be an obligation pretty much underwritten by South Korea and Japan. That has not been the case. We have been involved and we continue to be involved. But my concern, in real terms, is that what we are talking about is a major foreign policy initiative, and that is how we deal with North Korea. I said on previous occasions I do not think the agreed framework was the best way we could have negotiated it, but I am not going to judge the administration necessarily in hindsight. My objection to the agreement was that, in negotiating, we agreed basically not to inspect the two sites, the two storage sites, until after the first nuclear plant was about to be fueled. I think that was a mistake, but I am not going to go on at great length. I am concerned the North Koreans live up to their commitments before the money starts flowing.”