Haley Stevens: “I consider the Senator from Massachusetts a great personal friend and I hope he takes no umbrage at what I am going to…”

“I consider the Senator from Massachusetts a great personal friend and I hope he takes no umbrage at what I am going to say. I have been here now 35 years. I certainly was not here during Senator Kennedy's brother's administration, but I was alert and part of the national constituency at the time and admired very much what President Kennedy did in terms of handling foreign policy, and particularly the Cuban crisis. I read this and I see an amendment that tells the President to report to Congress on what he intends to do in the future in terms of negotiations, to give us a schedule of the strategy he and Ambassador Bremer will follow almost on a daily basis. I wonder what would have happened to President Kennedy in the Cuban crisis had that been the demand of Congress, to tell us in advance what they were going to do about the possibility that those missiles from Russia might come to Cuba. I really cannot believe the Senate has gone so far that they want to handle the President's daily schedule and have it in advance. The President of the United States is the President of the United States. I really cannot believe anyone would vote for this amendment, and I hope the Senator will reconsider his language.”