Political Quotes

“I am likewise concerned about consultation. The Senate and the House--the Congress--work very hard with this President, as they have with other Presidents, to get consultation on these key questions of our national security and foreign policy. Were we to pass this, coupled with what I predict will be a strong vote for the emergency supplemental, indeed, the President's advisers might say, ``We've got whatever we need now. Let's go about this. And we need not have the consultation.'' We have had extensive consultation in the course of this very difficult military action, and that consultation has enabled this Senator--sometimes there were 30 other Members of Congress up with the President working in consultation for not just 15 or 20 minutes or a half-hour but hours on end. I commend the President for sitting there very patiently and entering into a strong colloquy and exchange of views throughout that consultation. We might well lose consultation. We will send out a message that could be misinterpreted. And, indeed, we could cast an affirmative responsibility on other legislatures which could cause a fracture and a breakdown of the 19 NATO nations standing together.”