Political Quotes

“I appreciate very much the remarks of Senator Portman. I think he is touching on some critically important issues that all of us need to fully understand. As always, his insights are valuable and worthy of serious consideration by all. I would also briefly note that I do believe--and I spoke about this several weeks ago--there is a need for this country, as Senator Casey noted, to develop a bipartisan strategy, particularly with regard to how we deal with the rising spasm of extremism in the Middle East. It is a fact. It is happening. We as a country have to be able to work together in a bipartisan way to decide what action we may choose to use--whether it is military force, whether it is technological advancement, whether it is working with allies--to do whatever we can to increase more stability, more peace and tranquility, and less terrorism and violence. It is a big matter, and I am not at all confident that we have a strategy. In fact, we don't have a strategy that anyone can recognize as effective in this region, as a number of witnesses before the Armed Services Committee have testified, including former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates, who served under both President Bush and President Obama. This President seems to have his own plan. He refuses to listen. As he traveled around the world recently talking about the attacks in Paris, I think it stunned our allies. This is not a healthy situation. There are millions of refugees.…”