Political Quotes

“I would like to begin by thanking Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader Cantor, and their staff for prioritizing House consideration of this important reauthorization, as well as House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce and Congressman Chris Smith for shepherding this legislation through the committee process. I will say publicly what I said many times privately: no person that I have served with in 34 years has done more for human rights and religious freedom than Congressman Chris Smith. He is my hero. When I see the giants that I have served with in my 34 years, and when you go abroad, whether it be in Boko Haram territory in Nigeria or in China, no one has a greater reputation for speaking out for the voiceless than Congressman Smith. So I appreciate Chris' efforts at moving this thing quickly. I also want to thank Elyse Anderson from my staff, who has done incredible work on this. From the start, this bill has enjoyed, as Mr. Smith said, strong bipartisan support, including the cosponsorship of Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Eliot Engel. I want to thank Mr. Engel also for his strong support on these issues over the years. The broad support for this bill is fitting for an issue so central to America's own grand experiment in self-governance--the protection of religious freedom--which is often referred to as America's ``first freedom.'' Sadly, one need only pick up the newspaper today to see how religious freedom is under assault globally.…”