Political Quotes

“I want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for the great work on an issue that so many of us have noted and advocated for over the years. As a former member of this committee during the time of the Democratic majority, I still continue to have a great sense of the importance of the work. Having traveled to a number of countries and engaged with our diplomatic staff and the State Department, let me put on the record the crucial work that our diplomatic corps--our diplomat staff, the staff at the State Department, the Secretary of State--does and is engaged in for the safety and security of the American people. Their work is vital. They are partners with the defense; but more importantly, they are partners for reconciliation and coming together. It is evident by their great work of where we are in Syria, along with the President, and of course, most recently, some of the outreach that has gone on with Iran. But my main point for speaking today is, having physically visited a number of the diplomatic sites in high-risk and high-threat posts, I am ecstatic about this legislation that provides a matrix, along with working groups for security measures and funding, along with the review of a diplomatic security, with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy, which, when I went to oversee the Algerian election, they were very much involved, as they are and as they were in Egypt, and as they were in many other places where there are difficult circumstances.…”