Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to thank Jeff Fortenberry and his lead cosponsor, Anna Eshoo, for their extremely important resolution, H. Con. Res. 75, as amended, calling on the Obama administration to declare the annihilation of Christians, Yazidis, and other minorities, for what it is, a genocide. On December 4 of last year, a coalition of prominent religious leaders wrote President Obama and stated, ``Christian and Yazidi minorities in Iraq and Syria are being targeted for eradication in their ancient homelands solely because of their religious beliefs.'' They had been prompted by reports of an ``imminent'' State Department finding that ISIS was committing genocide against the Yazidis, a finding they ``wholeheartedly'' endorsed, but were ``deeply troubled,'' like we all were, that the genocide of Christians was going to be bypassed or excluded. Apparently press reports had claimed that the rationale for excluding Christians was that, unlike the Yazidis, Christians had a choice to convert to Islam and pay an Islamic tax, or be killed, tortured, enslaved, or held hostage. In direct rebuttal of that argument at a hearing that I held on December 9, Carl Anderson, the Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, stated: Many times the payment of the tax is not presented as an option for these Christians.…”