Political Quotes

“Yet in spite of the fact that the House voted 410-1 to cite those violations, we cannot have a similar vote in the Senate today, either before or after voting on normal trade relations with Vietnam. That is my issue and my concern, and it is why I did request unanimous consent to proceed to that bill. For the life of me, I don't know why we choose to ignore these violations. Everyone knows where the votes are on normal trade relations. I know my view does not carry in this Chamber. But I don't understand why we can't at least vote on the human rights violations. We should not approve the U.S.-Vietnam trade agreement without at least addressing these human rights violations in Vietnam. I don't understand why we can't address them. What is the fear? That somehow we are going to antagonize the Vietnamese? I am going to be giving you some information very shortly that makes one wonder why we would not want to antagonize the Vietnamese.”