Political Quotes

“this time of great peril has brought forth the best in our people, from those who rescue and heal and protect at ground zero, to those who across America raise flags, collect donations and give blood. But times of peril can also cause our well-justified anger and desire for immediate action to overwhelm democratic safeguards erected over the last 2 centuries. The tension that we face tonight is to provide the President with enough authority to eradicate wrongdoing without wronging the carefully crafted systems of checks and balances so essential to our democracy. Neither should this body lightly yield the power of the purse by granting unlimited access to the public treasury to the executive. As we vote for this important resolution with the lives of so many at stake in this important endeavor against terrorism, we cannot let the executive branch become the exclusive branch. Our approval must represent not the end but the beginning of congressional involvement. Today, we pledge to redouble our efforts to assure the security and the well-being of people in America and in many other parts of the world as we challenge terrorism. But we do so, entering this difficult course of national involvement, with an eagerness to see that our most precious democratic institutions are also preserved.”