Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel for their leadership in bringing this bipartisan measure to the floor today. Mr. Speaker, I also want to especially thank the author of this important resolution, my Florida colleague, Brian Mast, for his efforts in calling attention to the bloody Assad regime. What a highly valued member Mr. Mast is to our committee and to this institution. He is an American hero and an American treasure. There is no one more responsible for what is going on in Syria, as Mr. Mast has pointed out in his resolution, than Bashar al-Assad. Who is the one responsible for this massacre of his own people? Al-Assad. Assad brutally repressed peaceful Syrians who were demanding change in their country. Assad unleashed thousands of terrorists from the prisons into Iraq in 2003, helping to create the precursor to ISIS, and he did so again during the Syrian protests of 2011, leading to the founding and growth of ISIS. And Assad, with his brutal and insidious tactics, is responsible for the hundreds of thousands of murders, for war crimes, for crimes against humanity. He continues to be responsible for the daily terror occurring in Syria to this day. Bashar al-Assad is the one responsible. This is not a man who can lead a country. So we must use every tool at our disposal to put pressure on Assad and his backers, including pressure on Iran, pressure on Russia. They are the ones who are backing him. We have got to pass my good friend Mr.…”