Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I wish to make a comment, because first, this is something beyond anyone's control. No one could have controlled this. We had four Members who were gone. It couldn't be helped. We were on business. I have 41 amendments, almost equally divided, Democrat and Republican, on an issue that is probably the most significant issue to the spouses of our kids who are over there, overseas. What it does is that it lets us do an assessment before we close any of the commissaries--not close them but privatize them, instead of privatizing them and then seeing how it works. I think we have a vast majority of people who do support that. It is something that is offered on a bipartisan basis, and it is something that a lot of people--over 100 organizations are sponsoring this amendment--spoke very strongly in support of and consider this amendment to be the most significant amendment in the everyday lives of our troops. Anyone who travels overseas and travels to these various areas knows that when they go through a commissary, they see-- particularly in areas where there are no other opportunities out there--that there is almost no competition. It is something like a club. It is something that the wives, the husbands, the families, and the kids do. They go to the commissary. Taking that away would be taking away a tradition. Again, the bill doesn't state that it goes away, but it does temporarily privatize five major commissaries.…”