Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am happy to come to the Senate floor and join in support of the Cardin-Lugar amendment. I am an original cosponsor along with Senators Feingold, Whitehouse, and others. It is very straightforward, as Senator Lugar explained, and Senator Cardin before him. It would require companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange to disclose in their SEC filings extractive payments made to governments for oil, gas, and mining. This encourages greater corporate transparency, particularly in terms of those operating in countries where corruption and violence are rampant. I would also say there is a complementary amendment, which I hope will be considered at the same time because it is in that same vein. It is amendment No. 3997, offered by Senators Brownback, Feingold, and myself, and it basically would make the same requirement related to extractive minerals. Mr. President, I went to the Democratic Republic of Congo 5 years ago with Senator Brownback. We visited Goma, and I returned to that location just a few months ago with Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio. On those two visits I saw a situation in Goma which is almost impossible to describe. Imagine one of the poorest places on Earth, where people literally are starving to death, where they are facing the scourge of disease, where malaria and AIDS cuts short the lives of far too many, where there are thousands who are bunched into these just desolate and desperate refugee camps, and then imagine nearby an active volcano.…”