Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chair, I am truly impressed by my colleague, Mr. Rooney, on any number of issues. This is not one of them. This is absurd. It is absolutely absurd. We have military academies to train the next leaders of this country. We are not running a training camp for the National Football League. If you want to serve as a leader of the military, then you go to one of the military academies. If you decide you want to have a pro football career, then pay back the $500,000 that the taxpayers of this country have paid for each and every one of these students. In the Rules Committee yesterday, Mr. Rooney listed three names of examples of academy graduates continuing in professional sports after graduation. All of the names he mentioned--Roger Staubach, David Robinson, and Alejandro Villanueva--served on Active Duty for at least 2 years. The model for how this should work is like Villanueva, who served his 5-year commitment, deployed three times to Afghanistan, received a Bronze Star for valor, and then pursued a professional football career. The Acting CHAIR. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.”