Political Quotes

“This isn't, or shouldn't be, a partisan debate. Democrats and Republican members of Congress are in the same boat. The question we have to answer for ourselves is: do we vote ``yes'' to a bad bill, or do we demand something better? The answer to that question is important. Critical protections for first responders and their families hang in the balance. H.R. 1463 is supposed to protect members of the police, the nation's nurses, our firefighters, and other first responders who voluntarily receive a smallpox vaccine, and sustain an injury from that vaccine. But the Nation's first responders oppose this bill. This bill is supposed to increase the number of first responders who voluntarily receive a smallpox vaccine. But the bioterrorism experts who helped put together the smallpox vaccine program say H.R. 1463 won't work. It won't improve participation rates. So the choice both Republican and Democrat members of Congress face is whether to dismiss the concerns of first responders, ignore the advice of bioterrorism experts, and vote for this bill anyway. Have members of Congress become so far removed from the people we represent that we would pass a bill opposed by the very men and women it is supposed to protect? Do we in Congress really think we know better than bioterrorism experts when it comes to bioterrorism preparedness?”