Political Quotes

“yesterday we had a hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as the Presiding Officer knows. We had testimony by Secretary Sherman as to the enforcement of sanctions against Iran in order to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear weapon state, which would be a game changer. During the course of that hearing, it came out that as a result of the government shutdown, we are not as effective as we could be. There is always more that can be done in working with other countries, and the shutdown is affecting our full preparedness for enforcing the sanctions internationally against Iran. One of my colleagues started to challenge the representative from the State Department as to why they couldn't do more. Of course, it was the Treasury Department's budget that was primarily affecting the attention to this. The Secretary assured us that we are enforcing our sanctions. Senator Kaine made the observation--and the right observation--don't blame the administration; blame the Congress. It is the Congress that has the responsibility to make sure the government is functioning with all cylinders. This tea party shutdown is jeopardizing our national security. It is not putting us where we should be as far as taking care of the needs of the people of this country. I was on the floor a couple of days ago, and I quoted from the Baltimore Sun as to the responsibility for the shutdown, and I'm going to quote a little bit more from that article.…”