Bob Menendez: “now is not the time to have this debate. Too much is at stake to risk sending a message of America's disunity at this…”

“now is not the time to have this debate. Too much is at stake to risk sending a message of America's disunity at this critical point in the negotiations. Innocent men, women and children, little babies, entire families have been butchered, children have been orphaned, women have been raped, 400,000 people have been driven from their homes. That is what is at stake here today: human lives. If we are the leaders of the free world, if we are still that brave Nation that stood against darkness in World War II, now is the time to stand together to help the people of Kosovo find peace. But as we speak, negotiations are at a critical stage. We are either on the brink of a breakthrough or at the point of a breakdown. If the negotiations succeed, thousands of lives will be saved. Thousands of these children will live to grow up. And if we fail, many of these people will die. With all that at stake, at a time when these poor people are looking to us for stability, to help them find their way back to peace, why are Republicans holding this debate here today at the very moment we need to show unity? If there are parts of any final agreement we want to debate, then for God's sake, let us wait until we see it, let us wait until the ink is dry, let us wait until it is signed. Right now there is no accord to debate, there is only the possibility of sabotaging the process before it has had the chance to reach a conclusion.”