Political Quotes

“I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy and his leadership on this issue. Mr. Speaker, it is a breath of fresh air for us in these sort of, shall we say, troubled times in our Nation's Capital, when there is so much discord and disagreement, and it seems we can't really agree on fundamental facts: Is today Tuesday or Wednesday? Animal welfare is one of those issues that brings people together on a bipartisan basis. I am pleased that the bipartisan Congressional Animal Welfare Caucus has been involved in advancing this. Animal cruelty has been an area in which I have been involved since the beginning of my tenure in Congress. We fought, in farm bills, for years to try to advance protections against animal cruelty. I am pleased that we are here today dealing with something where Congress has already acted to make these provisions illegal. But what we haven't done is make it illegal to depict these horrific crush videos. It was horrifying, when we brought that legislation to the floor, for people to understand what some sick, sadistic people do in portraying these horrific acts of cruelty. What we find is that it is linked to larger issues. People who abuse animals are often linked to horrific instances of violence against their family and community. It is dehumanizing to us all, as well as, of course, the cruelty that is involved there. We need to enact this legislation to make the actual creation of the depiction of the animals being abused illegal.…”