Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I am going to use my time to say that this is a bad amendment, referring to the Hoyer amendment, to an already terrible bill. It is going to waste $16 billion American dollars, money we have to borrow in order to give away to rich countries like Israel and Egypt. But worse than that, the Hoyer amendment would call for the wasting of American lives. Testimony before the Committee on Armed Services coming from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colin Powell, says you cannot just give people surface-to-air missiles. You cannot just give people heavy artillery. You have to send people over there first to deliver it and then to train them to use it, and that means putting American service personnel on the ground in the Bosnia, which is going to lead to the loss of American lives in a 700-year-old war. Those who think that the Moslems from the Middle East are going to stand by once we lift the embargo or the Russians are going to stand by once we lift the embargo and not help the Croatians are absolutely crazy. Where is the rush to squander American lives? Yesterday this Congress did the right thing in voting not to get rid of the War Powers Act and voting not to give President Clinton more power to send American kids off to get killed. If you are so anxious to go help the Moslems or the Croatians or the Serbs, put down your briefcase, pick up a gun, and go have a lot of fun.”