Political Quotes

“I will try to abbreviate my remarks in light of the fact this is going to be a truncated debate. Let me begin very briefly by saying we are back at this again year after year after year after year dealing with a fundamentally flawed procedure. It is so flawed in my view that Senator McCain and I tried last year to get rid of the current certification process and to try to encourage the administration to come up with some alternative mechanism by which we, as a body, in Congress could express our deep and legitimate concerns about the growing problem of drugs coming into our country, and their increased use throughout this country, without damaging the ability of the United States to obtain cooperation for other governments in combatting which is a transnational problem. I fundamentally believe that while the certification process might have had some utility when it was first enacted in 1986, it has long ceased to be helpful in encouraging other governments to work with us in combatting the production, transit and consumption of illegal drugs.”