Political Quotes

“The question is very simple, I say to my colleague from Illinois, one of the foremost leaders of this House: Why do we choose this particular think tank to bestow this direct congressional line item? I'm amenable to taking the $42 million and saying, let's see if they can use it at Cornell or the University of Illinois' Peace Institute or at the Cato Institute or--I was going to say a more conservative one just to mix it up a little bit. The point that I'm making is, it's just why it has this status in the budget. It shouldn't. It had it once. It keeps it. It keeps it. It keeps it. It keeps it. Look at this. Have you been to the State Department recently? It doesn't look this good. Have you been to the Pentagon recently? It doesn't look this good. I mean, this is pretty darned good, and it's $100 million of U.S. taxpayer dollars. Go out and raise it like every other think tank. General Petraeus is right. Let's keep the United States Institute of Peace, but let's stop paying for it in this way.”