Charles Rangel: “I oppose the Goss amendment. I have all the respect in the world for the gentleman, and certainly believe that his ideas…”

“I oppose the Goss amendment. I have all the respect in the world for the gentleman, and certainly believe that his ideas as it relates to this solution should always be made available to the President. However, I rise because I think it is an insult to democracies all over the world when some of our friends in this House find it in their hearts to have a double standard for the Government of Haiti. When we find the overwhelming number of people who never had a chance to drink the sweet nectar of democracy willing to risk their lives to vote for this person, I think it is an arrogant double standard for us to now determine what kind of president did they elect. We, as Republicans and Democrats, may differ, but once we have a President, we do not tolerate foreigners to insult the intelligence of American voters to tell us what type of President we have. I go further to say if this was in any other country, in any other continent, I do not think we would have the arrogance to talk about the ability of that president to govern. It is not our job to like or dislike people who have been elected democratically and to raise that type of issue in a discussion as to what is best for the United States. I think it lowers the credibility of this great House of Representatives.”