Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank my dear friend, the distinguished ranking member, and I thank my friend Mr. Royce, the chairman of the committee, for their leadership. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 397, reaffirming the commitment of the United States to NATO's principle of collective defense as enumerated in article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. {time} 1515 As the head of the U.S. delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and as rapporteur for the Transatlantic Subcommittee, I can attest to the anxiety within NATO regarding the administration's commitment to the alliance. Case in point, one cannot talk about the U.S. commitment to article 5 in 2017 without mentioning President Trump's failure to embrace it in full view of our NATO allies when he was in Brussels earlier this year. It has been widely reported that even the President's own national security team was blindsided by the omission. I welcome this resolution, but it would have made a stronger statement to bring it to the floor immediately after the President's disconcerting speech in Brussels. This resolution maybe is less a profile in courage as it is a sigh of relief. Since the House failed the leadership test on this account, let's redeem ourselves by taking up the Engel-Connolly bill on Russian's sanctions, and the Iran-Russia sanctions package recently passed in the Senate by 98-2, and send it to the President's desk for signature.…”