Political Quotes

“Now is the time--past time. There is no reason for us to be here today on this Defense bill. This could have been done. We could have made it very clear that the dollars are there--critical dollars are there--for our troops, if it were not for an effort to subvert the process and the rules of the Senate and the efforts that have gone on to put things into this Defense bill that should not be there. Now, I am one who does not support drilling in ANWR. I have never voted for that. There is no relationship, in my mind, to energy independence or national security, as we look at the small amount of reserves that are there versus the tradeoff in terms of our environment and the commitment we have made as it relates to our environment. But regardless of that, that deserves a separate debate. We have had that debate on the floor of this Senate. We have had it a number of times. People have a right to have that debate and to be able to cast their votes concerning that issue, but it should not be included in a bill to support our troops, the men and women who are serving right now around the world. They deserve better than that. We can do better than that. I would hope we could clean up this bill, get those provisions out of there that have been put in for political purposes because they have not been able to pass in other ways, and be able to strictly focus on a bill to support our men and women in the armed services. What are some of the things in this underlying bill?…”