Political Quotes

“Just a point of clarification, my recollection of the ``don't ask, don't tell'' process was that it was, in fact, considered by the committee. The language that was ultimately adopted was the committee language; that because of objections to the issue, the NDAA was filibustered consistently and in order to try to break free, in terms of passing both pieces of legislation, the ``don't ask, don't tell'' was removed separately. That was after a complete committee process, as well as consideration of the NDAA on the floor. At that point, as Senator Gillibrand indicated, after two attempts, there were sufficient votes to pass ``don't ask, don't tell,'' but it was duly considered in the committee. Again, if the power of the ideas, the compelling data that they have is such, I don't know why they are concerned about allowing the full members of the committee, not just a subcommittee, to decide what should be in the final mark. In addition to that, I think in this process--and, in fact, I think you find it on every committee--ideas, perspectives, insights are gained that would otherwise be lost. What we are trying to do is follow the procedure of the Senate, which is to present to this floor a bill that has been carefully examined by people who have dedicated a great deal of their Senate service to the Armed Services Committee, and do so with the input of the Secretary of Defense because all of this has to be implemented by the Department of Defense.…”