Political Quotes

“I am talking about what is happening in this Rescissions Act. Don't take it from me. Just take it from Navy Admiral William McRaven, who was a Navy SEAL and a 4-star admiral. He warned that cutting State Department USAID will put every American at risk. This is the quote: ``This is no time to weaken any element of America's power. The dismissal of highly trained diplomats at the State Department and the dismantling of USAID will jeopardize national security and make the military's job much more difficult. Our national security has never depended on military strength alone; rather, it relies on collaboration with a strong Foreign Service and diplomatic corps,'' and I am adding with our USAID. In this bill, over $8 billion is taken away from what we do to alleviate poverty in the world, to lessen things like HIV and AIDS and other diseases, which have an impact on global health, by stopping the funding for the World Health Organization. I gave praise to President Bush when he put forth PEPFAR. We worked closely with him to fund it as appropriators. There were 25 million people's lives saved, but we are saying the alleviation of poverty and the eradication of disease is no longer the point.”