Political Quotes

“I think the Senator's question makes the first point I made, and that is the inappropriateness of trying to write a piece of legislation that is as nuanced and delicate as this on the floor. I pointed out what I thought was clearly an interpretation that said that whatever the cause, we were going to be denying as a remedy the use of unilateral economic sanctions which included this prescribed list of food, agricultural products, medicine and medical equipment. Now the Senator is suggesting that he doesn't really want to go as far as this language and would like to say, at least in the area of national security, that we don't have to deal with our enemies. I think, personally, that is too narrow a construction. I think there are a variety of types of activities that the President of the United States, with the authorization of Congress, ought to be able to sanction in the most severe possible way, including denying them the products that are listed in this legislation. I don't think we ought to try to write that on the Senate floor at now 8 o'clock at night. This is exactly the type of considered judgment that we would say in this great deliberative body ought to be deliberated in an appropriate committee with appropriate public input.”