Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5566, Prevention of Interstate Commerce in Animal Crush Videos Act of 2010. As a cosponsor of this bill, I know how important it is to pass this piece of legislation to protect animals from being abused for crush videos. Mohandas Gandhi once said ``The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.'' This wise man was correct; and we must uphold our nation's moral standards by protecting our animals. Animal crush videos depict conduct in which a living animal is intentionally maimed, mutilated, tortured, wounded or killed. In 1999, Congress passed a law outlawing the creation and trafficking of these videos. Recently, however, the Supreme Court struck down that law on first amendment grounds; arguing that law covered too much speech. This legislation was written, in response to the Supreme Court ruling, to narrowly outlaw animal crush videos while preserving all American's first amendment rights. I support this bill because animal crush videos depict living animals being tortured for human gratification. While all Americans have the right to free speech and expression, I can not in good conscience use the first amendment to justify allowing torture and abuse of animals. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.”