Political Quotes

“President Bush could not have made a better choice for Director of the White House Office on Homeland Security than Gov. Tom Ridge. We served together in the House of Representatives. We are personal friends. And I hold him in the highest regard. He is clearly the right person for this extremely difficult task and assignment and has done a great job under trying circumstances and in a very brief period of time. However, I believe we must keep title II in the bill, which establishes a National Office for Combating Terrorism in the White House, with a Presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed Director, not as any rebuke to the President or Governor Ridge, but to give Governor Ridge the tools he needs to be even more effective. I cosponsored Senator Graham's bill, S. 1449, to establish this office and supported its inclusion in Senator Lieberman's original bill to establish a Department of Homeland Security, which I also cosponsored. I refer my colleagues to testimony given by Retired General Barry McCaffrey, before the Governmental Affairs Committee, on October 12 of last year. He spoke about organizing our Government to protect America. Here is what he said: Our government does best when it establishes institutions for the long haul that are based on rationality, not personality. . . . The terms of this office--how its leadership is appointed, where its monies come from, what powers it wields, who it is accountable to--must have the permanence of law.”