Political Quotes

“Madam President, I am here on the floor this afternoon to talk about a young man named Billy Smolinski and a law that Senator Hoeven and I are introducing on behalf of him, his family, and, quite literally, the millions of other families throughout the United States who have had to deal with the trauma, angst, and grief of a loved one gone missing. I will begin by telling everyone a little bit about Billy Smolinski. Billy's parents don't think that he is alive any longer, but they aren't sure because on August 24, 2004, at the age of 31 Billy went missing. Billy was a vibrant young man who lived in Waterbury, CT, along with his treasured dog. When he didn't respond to calls and communications from his family over the course of a number of days, his parents--and I will speak about his mother in particular, Jan Smolinski, who has been the driving force behind Billy's Law--contacted the Waterbury Police Department. The Waterbury Police Department is a great police department, and I have a lot of friends there, but even they will admit they really screwed up this case from the beginning. They told his parents that he probably didn't go missing, that he was just running away from his personal problems.…”