Political Quotes

“Amidst all the turmoil on the world stage, I think many of us are still processing the visit from Pope Francis last week, his call for us to care for the planet, for our fellow man, for all of God's creatures. In the background here on Capitol Hill, there is more than a little turmoil in terms of what is going to happen after the resignation of Speaker Boehner. There looks to be a little good news that we will avert a government shutdown, at least for a few months, as we continue to have the misdirected crusade to defund Planned Parenthood. I have been focusing on the epidemic of deaths from prescription drug abuse and heroin overdoses. Mr. Speaker, it is something that is creating problems from Portland, Oregon, to Portland, Maine; yet, in the midst of that epidemic, there was a stark symbol of our dysfunction on something that most Americans now think should be legal. There are over 200 million Americans that live in States where they can get access to medical marijuana. Four States and the District of Columbia have legalized adult use, and more States are going to be voting on it again this year; yet we have arrested over 7 million people over the last 10 years, costing billions of dollars. It can turn lives upside down, particularly lives of young men of color, especially African Americans, who are arrested many times more often even though their use is the same as White young men.…”