Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman and acknowledge Mr. Schiff and my dear friend, Anna Eshoo, and all of those, Mr. Pallone, and of all the Members who have stood tall and strong, Mr. Smith and Mr. Engel, for this very important statement. Let me, as a member of the Armenian Caucus, indicate that I rise with a heavy heart, but I rise with an appreciation and an excitement that we have come to this point. It is important to acknowledge that as this was occurring, the United States' record on the Armenian genocide goes back more than a century, in fact, to July 16, 1915, when Henry Morgenthau, United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1913 to 1916, organized and led protests by officials of many countries against what he described as the empire's campaign of race extermination. He was instructed on July 16, 1915, by United States Secretary of State Robert Lansing that the ``department approves your procedure . . . to stop Armenian persecution.'' I rise in support of finally having this Nation take this stand. Bloodshed and genocide should not be tolerated no matter how long we have come to that. And so I stand with the words that we now, therefore, will commemorate as the United States of America the Armenian genocide through official recognition and remembrance. We will reject efforts to enlist, engage, or otherwise associate the United States Government with the denial of the Armenian genocide or any other genocide. The SPEAKER pro tempore.…”