Political Quotes

“I come to the floor, at the very least in disbelief, and at most with a sense of outrage, because this bill contains a provision that is so serious and such a departure that at the very least, any responsible legislative body would have wanted it debated. The gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Carolyn Maloney) and I went to the Committee on Rules yesterday to ask that an amendment to remove a provision of the bill and at least postpone the resegregation of basic training throughout the armed services be made in order. Our amendment would simply have stopped congressional action to segregate the armed services pending the receipt of the report of the Commission on Military Training and Gender-Related Issues, whose members were just appointed in February. This commission has been authorized by this body to study the very issues this body is due to vote on as part of this bill today. The resegregation now in the bill represents a major structural setback for the services and for women that the Department of Defense and the services strongly oppose.”