Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 114, S. Res. 216. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title. The legislative clerk read as follows: A resolution (S. Res. 216) encouraging women's political participation in Saudi Arabia. There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the resolution (S. Res. 216) encouraging women's political participation in Saudi Arabia, which had been reported from the Committee on Foreign Relations, with an amendment and an amendment to the preamble. (Strike the parts in boldface brackets and insert the parts shown in italics.) S. Res. 216 [Whereas, on September 22, 2011, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is scheduled to hold its first nationwide municipal elections since 2005, with voter registration open as of April 23, 2011; [Whereas the Government of Saudi Arabia has announced--as it did in 2005--that women will be unable to run for elective office or vote; [Whereas, on March 28, 2011, president of the general committee for the election of municipal council members Abd al-Rahman Dahmash stated, ``We are not prepared for the participation of women in the municipal elections now.''; [Whereas Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Prince Saud Al Faisal stated in an interview after the 2005 election that he assumed women would be allowed to vote in future elections, and that this would benefit the election process because women were ``more sensible voters than men''; […”