Political Quotes

“I deeply respect the authors of this amendment and respect their effort to try to balance competing concerns, but I respectfully believe that they've struck the wrong balance. One concern that I have here is that money is fungible and food is not. The possibility of corruption occurring--not because of the good- faith NGOs, but because of some of the forces at work in the countries we're talking about--is a problem. At the same time, I believe the effect of this amendment would be to undercut our merchant marine activities, our agricultural exporters, and ultimately undercut support within this country for a robust program of food aid to the rest of the world. The present structure of the program is inclusive; it builds support. I respectfully think this amendment would detract from that support. For that reason, I would urge a ``no'' vote.”