Political Quotes

“I went to Austin with the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Young) after the President was elected but before he was inaugurated, and I sat at his table, and I said to him, Mr. President, you do not have to worry about missile defense, you have got to worry about terrorism and you have got to worry about nuclear proliferation. Then I came back, we went to committee, and under the leadership of the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis) we moved $1.4 billion out of missile defense and put it into counterterrorism on September 11, 2001. We could not finish our markup that day because of what happened. One of the planes went down in my district. That was the start of the war against terrorism because those passengers in that plane took a stand. They got up and fought that plane to the ground. The plane was probably coming towards the Capitol of the United States. The reason that I am so upset about this resolution, not only because they did not consult any of us, but because the terrorists worked with a calendar and we work with a clock. This is going to be a long war. We have been discredited worldwide with our intelligence.”