Political Quotes

“let me say to my good friend who just spoke and talked about the need to shore up energy supplies for our country, I agree with him totally. And I agree with the idea that we should not have to rely on that lifeline of petroleum coming out of the Middle East, which has security ramifications. Let me say to my friend that opening up a piece of land that is as big as a third of the United States, that is, Alaska, a third of the size of the continental United States, would go a long way toward doing that. The amount of petroleum that we could be getting from one of our own States within our own boundaries without having to depend on that lifeline would accrue to the national security. I say to the gentleman, I think it is a sad thing that the majority of his party has not seen fit to do that. We are pursuing lots of alternative forms of energy, but one problem with this particular amendment is, it would take the money out of missile defense. I know the gentleman is worried about the prospect of ballistic missiles that are being tested by countries in the Middle East, that are being tested to ranges that will include Israel, for example, and at some point, certain locations in the United States. So there are two aspects to these amendments. One is what you do; and the other is where you pull the money from. The other part of that story is where you pull the money from.”