Barney Frank: “I think we here all enormously enjoy this job almost all the time, but this is such a grave time that I think none of us…”

“I think we here all enormously enjoy this job almost all the time, but this is such a grave time that I think none of us feel confident that we are fully adequate to these terrible decisions and we are all doing our best; and I particularly admire those who have the responsibility for national security, especially because from what I have learned from our ranking member and others, there was a genuine effort to work together. We understand that the kind of differences of opinion we have among ourselves do not mean a lack of national unity, but we also understand the importance of international perception, and we all carry with us a commitment to make sure that none of this murderous gang that has launched a war on innocent people here get any comfort from our debates; and indeed, I think and I understand this, there will be less of a debate in this particular bill over one very controversial issue, national missile defense, than there might otherwise have been and there will be some day.”