Political Quotes

“The Senator from Virginia said at one point that this is a program that harms its participants. I say to the Senator that the American Medical Association disagrees with him. The American Public Health Association disagrees with him. Law enforcement in the District of Columbia disagrees with him, and the Surgeon General of the United States disagrees with him as well. When we consider what we are up against, the Senator says we have to make sure we send the right message. The fact that we can come to the floor and make a political judgment to take away one of the tools and weapons to fight for good public health and to fight HIV/AIDS is the wrong message. What are we going to do next? Are we going to decide that Congress is going to make decisions about the threat of anthrax and not the public health community, that it is a political decision not a medical decision? I hope not. Whether we are fighting AIDS or anthrax, whether we are fighting drug addiction or other problems facing us in America on the medical scene, for goodness sakes, let us have the humility as Members of the Senate and the House to defer to the experts in the field. Let us not be swept away with the thought that by passing this amendment we are stating something that is politically strong.”