Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I wish to thank my chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Corker, for his courtesies. We do not agree on this particular matter, but there are a lot of matters when it comes to foreign policy on which we do agree. I do agree this should be a very straightforward debate--either you are for this agreement or you are not. I think the fact that Congress is voting on it is good. I did support that in the committee. That calls for regular order as far as the way we treat this very important vote. I am very proud to stand here today as the longest serving member sitting on the Foreign Relations Committee today. Out of all of the members, I have been there the longest. When I got there, I did not have these gray hairs. I am not blaming any of the topics that came before us for these gray hairs; however, we have had some tough debates, and this certainly is one of them. I know my friend has a lot to do. I just want to say I was pleased to yield to him because I think he has set the right tone. Colleagues, this is a vote we are going to long remember, a vote on an arms control agreement that came about for only one reason. That reason is, our President and his team--former Senator John Kerry, now Secretary of State; Wendy Sherman, the chief negotiator--they were part of the team, and many others worked tirelessly against the most vitriolic opposition. The President stood firm. I want to say to him today: Thank you, Mr. President.…”