Political Quotes

“this amendment bothers me and many of my colleagues very much. As my friend from Nevada has said, we were briefed. After that briefing, there was no objection whatsoever. Now we want, without any other consideration--many of us not having had the opportunity to hear the briefing--to vote to open up Pennsylvania Avenue. I think it has been important that, in the years that I have been here and when we have had to make hard decisions, we err on the side of safety. I do not want any of those living or working in the White House to be exposed. There are a lot of things the Secret Service has told us that cannot be public. The Senator from Minnesota knows that. He will not reveal that because he cannot. One of the reasons that Pennsylvania Avenue was closed was because of that unavailable information. If you want to take the blood on your hands and say, ``We want to open up that 800 feet of pavement up there,'' and something occurs after that, then you are not going to do it with my vote. I want the safety of the First Family. I want the lives of those people who work there day and night to be as safe as possible. I do not understand what is going on here. I really do not understand it. Oh, I can go back in history. I can quote Henry Clay. I can do lots of things. But today is today, not history. Today we have the problems. Today we have terrorists operating in this country. They will tell you that much.…”