Political Quotes

“on behalf of my new granddaughter, Patricia Lanier, I would say it is my pleasure today to speak about a very important piece of legislation that our colleagues in this House will pass judgment on. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 2417, the fiscal year 2004 intelligence authorization act. I am a fairly new member of this House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. It is a unique opportunity for Members of the House to serve on this select committee. I came on to the committee at the time that the joint 9-11 hearings were taking place. And as I look around the room today and I observe my colleagues that participated in those joint sessions with the Senate, I want my other colleagues that are not on this committee to know how impressed I was with the leadership of this committee and our participation with the Senate as well. I also want to take this opportunity to thank the staff who have been most kind and generous on both sides of the aisle to participate with us as we have gone through these very tough issues. This is a good bill. It is a complicated bill. It is hard for some Members to understand.”