Political Quotes

“I want to thank my good friend, Dr. Burgess, for yielding. I rise, Madam Speaker, in reluctant opposition, quite frankly, to both the rule and the underlying legislation. As my good friend, Chairman McGovern knows, we have actually worked together to try and expand and reclaim war-making authority for the Congress of the United States, and I would offer and continue to work with him in that partnership. I think that is something that needs to be continued. I also think we have no difference that if we were to engage in a war with Iraq, it would require congressional authorization. And frankly, last night, in the Rules Committee, I offered a process whereby we could work together in a bipartisan fashion; that is, let's just follow the War Powers Resolution. Let's submit something to the committee of jurisdiction, which is actually the Foreign Affairs Committee. We have a deadline or a timeline laid out in the War Powers Act; they could operate within that. Within a matter of a few weeks we would then, in a very bipartisan manner, bring something to the floor. Let's contrast that with how this particular resolution came to the floor. We got it about 45 minutes before the Rules Committee meeting. It is written in the Speaker's Office; rewritten in the Speaker's Office, and it is sent down here to make a political point, not to actually do something that would substantively restore congressional war-making power. This is all politics; that is all it is.…”