Political Quotes

“We have talked some about our fragile economy and the problems we are facing. Growth, which began slowing in 1999, coupled with the tragic impact of September 11, has resulted in hardship for many. We have seen unemployment, reduced value of market securities, more problems with health care, and other difficulties. There are measures pending in this body I believe would do a great deal to help the economy. They are such things as passing a terrorism risk reinsurance bill, which could get our building trades back to work; passing an energy bill, which has the potential of employing more than three-quarters of a million people, and securing our energy independence. We have not been able to work on those. But now we face a further challenge, which is a self-inflicted attack on our economy by our own people; and that is the contract dispute which has closed the West Coast docks, providing a terrible bottleneck for crucial exports and imports. Many Missouri constituents are asking us what can be done.”