Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member and the chairman for their work on this proposed resolution. But I want to remind my colleagues that one of the problems that we face in Turkey and Syria today is the failure of congressional leadership to address this issue. When I stood on this very floor during the Obama administration and the question of Syria came up, I remember many of my colleagues agreeing with me that we should not be in Syria with boots on the ground, risking our most precious assets of our young men and women, without a clear Authorization for Use of Military Force and congressional approval of a resolution to do so. We failed in the leadership here in this body. That is why, as we go through this resolution, I understand the Turkish sanctions. I understand. But make no mistake about it, by voting ``yes'' on this resolution, you are authorizing the use of military force of our men and women on Syrian soil. If force needs to be redeployed to this area, I do not want to hear from any Member of this Chamber, nor the Senate, that we have not authorized our men and women to be there. It is time for us to set aside political cowardice because we cannot make the hard choices of approving a military force resolution. We should join and unite--the House, the Senate, and the White House--in one congressional declaration that we, if we put our men and women in harm's way, stand by it and stand by the Commander in Chief in regard to that request. {time} 1330”