Political Quotes

“I rise today in support of the Lautenberg amendment to extend for 2 years an existing law that allows greater opportunities for historically persecuted groups to enter the United States. I am happy to cosponsor this important amendment. The existing law, which will expire later this year, lowers the evidentiary standard required to qualify for U.S. refugee status. Specific groups include Soviet Jews, Soviet Evangelical Christians, religiously active Ukrainian Catholics, and certain categories of Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians. I believe that it is very important that this law be extended for an additional 2 years. Though the end of the cold war has greatly reduced tensions between East and West, it has also given rise to fierce regional conflicts, ultranationalism, and old hatreds. As was evidenced by the Russian elections last December, Communists and ultranationalists fared surprisingly well. The now infamous Vladimir Zhirinovsky--and his ironically named Liberal Democratic Party--scored a major victory, receiving 23 percent of the popular vote. Together with the Communists, the hard-liners in Russia almost took control of the parliament, with a total of 43 percent of the vote. Zhirinovsky, who some dub 'the Russian Hitler,' has aspirations of becoming president of Russia. He has talked about sending 300,000 troops into Germany, blockading Japan, and taking back Alaska. All this on top of his antisemitic rhetoric.”