Political Quotes

“let me first echo the comments of Senator McConnell, as well as Senator Schumer earlier, in wishing Sara Schwartzman the very best in her next undertaking. Whatever the challenge may be, I hope the hours are better because I know that the sacrifices made by you and members of our staff because of our peculiar scheduling in the Senate have caused some strains and stress and pressure and hardship. But thank you so much for making the Senate better with your service every single day. Lithuania and Belarus Madam President, I have tried to visualize this experience so many times: It was in July of 1911, and a ship arrived in Baltimore from Germany. A family came down the gangplank. One of the members of the family was my grandmother, and she brought her three children. One of them was a 2-year-old little girl--blonde-haired--named Ona, my mother. How they managed to navigate their way through Baltimore and catch a train to East St. Louis, IL, I will never know because there were virtually none of them able to speak English, but they did. They arrived, and I grew up the son of a Lithuanian immigrant who was proud of what her family left behind and prouder still of what they found in this great country as Lithuanian Americans. I have had a special attachment and interest in the Baltic States-- and particularly Lithuania--ever since. It has been my good fortune to follow their history from Soviet occupation and oppression to freedom and democracy today.…”