Political Quotes

“I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, this morning we will be voting on a joint resolution of disapproval for the rule that establishes the U.S. Department of Agriculture's catfish inspection program. As I mentioned yesterday, I would remind my colleagues that the General Accounting Office, a watchdog organization we rely on for their views, particularly on fiscal issues and matters--and I think that of all the institutions of government right now, probably the GAO is arguably the most respected--GAO has warned in 10 different reports between 2009 and 2016 that ``the responsibility of inspecting catfish should not be assigned to the USDA,'' calling the program ``wasteful'' of tax dollars and ``duplicative'' of the FDA's existing inspections on all other seafood products. That is an interesting item, I say to my colleagues. The FDA performs inspections on every seafood product that comes into the United States of America. And guess what. There is only one, and that is catfish. Let's be very blunt about the reality. The reality of this is to stop the competition from foreign sources--specifically one of which is the country of Vietnam--from coming into this country.…”