Political Quotes

“first let me address my colleague and friend from Idaho, who is one of the four Senators who have spoken against this amendment on the floor and tell him first of all I appreciate the sincerity of his remarks and the concern he shows, and his colleagues have shown, for those who face economic hardship because of any decision that might be impacted by the Federal Government. I would have to say in particular, with respect to the distinguished Senator from Oregon talking about some of the people in communities which he has visited, the same phenomena has occurred to all of us at one time or another. All of us truly feel the intense pain that those families suffer. In many cases that suffering comes to them because of activities that have been taken in terms of Federal trade policy, sometimes because of innovation in various manufacturing techniques, modernization of equipment--lots of reasons that long and established communities are adversely affected. Any of us who do not relate to that and have a sense of compassion--we may disagree on a particular item at a particular time, about what is the best way to approach a particular challenge that we face, but I don't think any of us lack compassion for those families or want to be in a position where we are doing anything that hurts more than helps. In this particular instance, I would have to say one of the comments made by my friend from Oregon was ``let science decide.'' That is really what is at issue here.”