Political Quotes

“I now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott), a classmate of mine. (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.) Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I associate myself with all the remarks of my friends. We have had a remarkable occurrence in my time in the Congress. This was once a death sentence. Today, we are on the verge of being able to produce an AIDS-free generation. Now, it is great and we are always excited when we do something new and big and exciting, but maintaining and pushing forward to finish the project is really where we are. This bill will pass without a vote against it, I am quite sure. But the real question is: What do we put in the budget? Because if we don't maintain what is going on in the world today, we will lose. We will go backward. {time} 1700 It is like we have built a dike and we are holding back the sea. But the fact is if we don't have the drugs available when mothers deliver children and you do that intervention right at the appropriate time, you will not prevent the children from getting it. You will not be able to give the long-term care to the mothers as they raise these children. In my view, that is really where we are. This was the crowning achievement, I think, of the administration of George Bush. His starting this was a statement to the world that the United States cared about an epidemic that affected the entire face of the universe. And we have done a good job.…”