Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I appreciate the words of my freshman colleague, Senator Kirk. I think he recognizes from his days as a foreign policy expert, when he worked for the government on foreign policy, that a Presidential waiver is essential. My guess is he would have attacked this bill if it had not had a waiver for the President, saying there is no way the President could possibly look out for national security at the same time as he executes this legislation. So that clearly is a nonstarter around here. Everybody recognizes that not having a Presidential waiver--because there is a case sometimes when the President does need the authority when it comes to national security, and I am concerned about national security in our trade with China. I have seen China, over a period of years--with our acquiescence as a nation, frankly--I have seen China build more and more national security infrastructure and in some cases seeing our national security infrastructure weakened because we don't do as well with steel and chemicals and all the things that go into our national security apparatus. So I am, in fact, concerned about that. I am also concerned; I hear two things, two main arguments. I have sat on the Senate floor as the manager of this bill for several hours over the last couple or 3 days and listened to this debate.…”