Political Quotes

“I am delighted to rise because I think we have before us a very important issue and one that we have not dealt very well with, at least since I have been in the Senate. There will be a lot of debate as we just heard on a number of issues and I am happy to debate those issues. I think they are important to the American people. If the allegations that have been sent to me by fax machine, some of which we have heard just expressed in the Chamber, are true, I would agree that America does deserve better. What I hope that I can do is offer a reasoned voice, a voice based on some experience but more importantly one that is close to science, one that has been involved in placebo controlled trials, one who participates in ethical decisionmaking in medicine, in health care, one who knows Dr. Satcher, whom I hope we hear something about. In fact, I will take a few minutes and talk about Dr. Satcher, the man, the man who came before our committee, the man who has contributed so much throughout his life for the betterment of public health, his fellow man and, more importantly, for that next generation. I do think we need a Surgeon General. I was in Africa last week and asked a lot about these AZT trials, and I hope to have a chance to comment on those a little bit later. About a month ago, there was what we thought was a new disease, what the world thought was a new disease called Rift Valley Fever, which killed about 400 people in Kenya over a period of 3 weeks.”