Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise to speak on the two pending votes before the Senate. First, I wish to follow my distinguished colleague from New York, whose comments I want to echo regarding the Presiding Officer, who has made this one of her passions. She picked it up when I first introduced the James Zadroga Act and then took it up when she came to the Senate and has done a magnificent job and brought us to this moment. Jim Zadroga was a New Jerseyan who spent 450 hours at the World Trade Center site--a New York City police officer who simply had a paper mask on as his only protection. He and so many others who answered on that fateful day did not question their personal security, did not give it a second thought. They did not think about their health, did not think about the potential consequences that would flow from the exposure to which they were subjecting themselves. They thought only about responding, saving lives, and meeting the Nation's need--the Nation's need, not New York's need. For Jim Zadroga and so many others, the consequence of that selflessness has been enormous. In many cases, they have died. In other cases, they have serious life-threatening illnesses. In other cases, they have real disabilities as a result of those illnesses.…”