Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this amendment. We all agonized as to what we should do, but I want to correct the record. At 2:25 this afternoon, through the chair, when we started to pontificate on this floor about Islamists against Islamists, what we do is perpetuate the agony. What we do is stir up the pot when we stereotype who is with us and who is not with us. Not every Muslim is the same, not every Christian is the same, as we found out in the Balkan wars in 1998 and 1999. In fact, in that war, we assisted Kosovo because it was being totally overcome with Serbs. One was Muslim; the other was Christian. I think it is not good that the Congress go on record as pitting one group against the other. I don't think it works. I don't think it is healthy, Madam Speaker. Let's be clear about what this vote is about. This is not an authorization for open-ended war. This is not October 2002 which was an authorization. No one knows that better than the chair and the ranking member who have done a spectacular job, I believe, in keeping this a fair debate and a fair discussion, and I want to compliment both of them. I believe that ISIL is a threat to our national security, and I support the President's mission to end that threat. While America must lead, we cannot do this alone. We must see a real commitment from our coalition partners in the region, and we must provide the kind of support that is necessary if we are going to be successful.…”