Political Quotes

“I admire the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Traficant), and as the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Buyer) said, for his tenacity, but I disagree strongly with his proposal to militarize our border, to put a significant part of my congressional district under martial law. He is not talking about martial law in Youngstown, Ohio. He is not talking about martial law in New York City. He wants to clear the streets of gangs and drug dealers. What about clearing them with military troops there in those cities as well? He wants to use the military resources to help stop drugs at our borders and prevent terrorists. Guess what. It is happening. It is happening right now. Joint Task Force 6, located in El Paso, Texas, is doing that. Here are some of the things that the military does now along the border. Army engineering groups are building roads and fences along the border so that we can patrol it. We have the National Guard unloading trucks at our crossing stations so they can be inspected for drugs. We have the Air Force operating our aerostats which provide radar coverage against drug-smuggling aircraft. It is Customs that should deal with this. It is Immigration and Border Patrol that should deal with this; it is not the military role to deal with this. I urge my colleagues to defeat this amendment.”