Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I do disagree with my colleague because this bill eliminates the flexibility in the current system to consider the totality of the circumstances, and restoring the best interest standard that every State is intimately familiar with is remedying the lack of flexibility in the bill as it is written. But again, we will continue this conversation. I view coming to the floor and having this dialogue as kind of a way for us to do something that is too rare--way too rare--here in the Senate. We rarely have these types of conversations in front of the American people, and I think it is important we have them, especially when there is some value--that maybe we share the same value but have different interpretations of how that value will be impacted. I am sure we share the same value on trying not to do kids wrong. That is why I value this dialogue with my colleague, and I hope it will lead to the opportunity to resolve these issues. I have a third amendment, and the third amendment is related to another aspect of the way children are affected, including American citizen children. Imagine the parent who goes to work who is accused--I don't know--of stealing a tool out of the factory, and so he is arrested or she is arrested. And now, under this bill, that adult has to be locked up--no flexibility on the front end--even though it turns out that they did not steal the tool; they had nothing in their bag that they had with them. The officer thought they did; they didn't.…”