Political Quotes

“I again reiterate my opposition to this amendment. I would agree with the gentlewoman who just spoke that each side has an argument of merit in this debate. But I would say I strongly disagree. Let us start with this whole issue of States' rights. I yield to no one on the issue of States' rights. I have a piece of legislation I have introduced every year in this Congress which would have required every Member of Congress to cite in each bill they introduce the constitutional authority, the provision of the U.S. Constitution that gives the Congress the right to act in this area. The gentlewoman would suggest that medical marijuana is not an area in which the Federal Government has the right to legislate. The implication there is that the Federal Government does not have the right to legislate in the area of drug policy. I would suggest that our Nation's civil rights laws, which I strongly support, are based on the issue of interstate commerce and that discrimination affects interstate commerce, and therefore it is appropriate for the Federal Government to pass laws prohibiting civil rights conduct that is offensive, including discrimination. By the same token, clearly our Nation's laws against drugs, marijuana and all of the others, are based on the same premise, and that is that they do affect interstate commerce.”