Brad Sherman

I think that if we wait until post-election, where we can sit in calm fashion and talk to our State Department and diplomats, et cetera, then we will be in a climate where we can resolve this issue in a manner that is bipartisan, that is…

I would point out that in an emergency situation, Congress could meet and authorize a payment as quickly as we could vote.

It never hurts to reiterate our policy against paying ransom.

I think it should be all state sponsors of terrorism and North Korea.

This is a highly political issue right now.

We should be willing to tax Chinese exports to the United States.

But now let's look at the policy. Is it good policy to designate North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism?

Okay, keep in mind, unless the regime is truly threatened and close to falling, they are not going to give up their 10 to 15 weapons because they feel they need those to defend themselves from us.

It would be nice to cling to denuclearization, but as I think you predict, I think as most of us would predict, if we keep doing what we have been doing, we are going to get a very similar result.

Well, if we are going to achieve our political objectives for the foreign policy establishment, et cetera, here in this country, we need to do two things: First, don't make compromises, and don't admit how weak our position is.

Millions of very poor North Koreans move north as refugees. And then you might see a unification under the South Korean Government.

The purpose of sanctions is to force the regime to change its policy by creating regime-threatening sanctions, and China does not want this regime threatened.

I want to address this issue what I think China would want. I mean, they would prefer if North Korea didn't have a nuclear program, but that is not high on their list.

We need to approach this problem with both a clenched fist and an open hand.

We can no longer just view North Korea as an annoying, petulant child. It is clear that North Korea is testing missiles and bombs for the purpose of developing warheads and ICBMs that can be put together and can reach our allies and…

For that reason, I am working on legislation to end North Korea's access to interbank financial transfers to prevent further abuses and reduce funding to North Korea's nuclear program.

So, what we need to do is say not how can we possibly get the most important Presidential advisor on foreign policy to come into this room but how can we write an authorizing bill in this room that becomes law?

As to this century, I have seen this committee and the House of Representatives in general go from foreign policy makers to foreign policy kibitzers...

Last century the high-water mark for the NSC was Kissinger. Everything we complain about now was probably more true then, in terms of the NSC.

If we can drive down the price of oil and diminish the world's dependence upon the Middle East, we might avoid the next Iraq war and the environmental degradation that that involves.

Coal produces twice the greenhouse gases per kilowatt as any other fuel.

China emits twice as much greenhouse gases as the United States.

Anything that drives down the price of oil is not just good for motorists in my district, it is good for American foreign policy.

To tie the President's hands and say that we have to continue these sanctions... makes the bill more unwieldy.

We should recognize that we often support not territorial integrity but self-determination, and we are often somewhat inconsistent on this.