Political Quotes

“I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy in permitting me to speak on this, as I appreciate his hard work with the Judiciary Committee, and my friend Mr. Gallegly from California. This is an area, Mr. Speaker, that I personally think that we ought to be able to come together. I supported the original legislation. I found it horrific that we would have people profiting from the most obscene displays of cruelty to animals. I understand the arguments that were made before the Supreme Court, but I think they made it clear that there was an opportunity to craft it more narrowly, and I think the Judiciary Committee has done a good job in doing so. I am pleased that this is one of the areas where Congress has been able to come together, people on both sides of the aisle, to act quickly in an area that actually is important to avoid demeaning us all. Mr. Speaker, cruelty to animals is not something that is just sort of an esoteric issue that is one that is only nominally of interest. This is something that speaks to the fundamentals of whether or not our communities are going to be livable, whether or not we can relate positively to one another. There is study after study that documents that people who are abusive to animals are also people who are likely to be abusive to their fellow human beings. It is a broad, far-reaching problem we have in our communities still.…”