Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today, with the passage of the Paul Simon Water for the World Act, the Senate will take an important step in fighting poverty and saving the lives of the world's poor by increasing access to the most fundamental human need--clean water. I introduced this bill in honor of my friend and mentor, the man whose seat I now occupy in the Senate, the late Senator Paul Simon. Solving the global water crisis was his last great campaign and the topic of a book he authored called ``Tapped Out: The Coming World Crisis in Water and What We Can Do About It.'' If he were here today, he would be proud of the Senate's action. I was joined in this effort by Senators Bob Corker, Patty Murray and 31 other cosponsors from both sides of the aisle--and would like to thank all of them for their support and commitment to addressing one of the defining challenges of the 21st century. I would also like to thank Senator Tom Coburn for working constructively with me to advance legislation that we both could agree upon. And finally I would like to express my appreciation to Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry and Ranking Member Richard Lugar for their critical support of this bill. While we have made progress in recent years on clean water and sanitation, tragically nearly 1 billion people around the world still lack access to clean, safe water. More than 2 billion people lack access to basic sanitation. Most of these people live on less than $2 a day.…”