Political Quotes

“I thank my friend from Florida for yielding. I want to talk a little bit about the legislation and then the rule itself. It is not unusual that we are at a difficult moment near the end of the session and have must-pass legislation. And the main portion of this legislation, the National Defense Authorization Act, is actually very good and very bipartisan. Frankly, it was passed out of committee with overwhelming votes from both sides of the aisle. We all know that the chairman and the ranking member, who are two of our most distinguished Members, work very well together. Like anything in a $500 billion bill, I could quibble with this or that, but the reality is I favor the legislation. I have no problem supporting it and the rule that moves it forward. I also want to agree with my friend from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern). I have the same concerns he does about the authorization for military action. I jointly signed a letter with him to that effect. I look forward to continuing to work with him to that effect because he is precisely right that we need to address this. I think the appropriate way is a full authorization debate, not an amendment, but my friend certainly states his case eloquently. We also have a major lands bill appropriated with this. Most of that bill is really pretty noncontroversial. Most of it went through committee or a lot of it across the floor. There are a lot of good things in there and things that I find very easy to support.…”