Political Quotes

“But this is an opportunity with this amendment to use the matrix between agricultural policies and our human rights policies in how we deal with other countries to have, hopefully, a positive impact on a very important matter. As we speak, and, frankly, since March of 1999, 13 prisoners have been held on charges of spying by the Iranian government. There has been a trial that has consisted mainly of a kangaroo court where the prosecutor was the same person as the judge who was the same person as the appeals court, et cetera. It is expected that this weekend, there will be a verdict coming down in that case. What my amendment does is very simple. It strikes a small amount, $15,510 from this section of the bill from the over $400 million, I believe, section of the bill that is APHIS, that is used to deal with imports and imports only from Iran. What we are saying with this amendment is that Members are watching very closely what happens with those 13 prisoners.”