Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of S. 3860, a bill that would ensure greater accountability for the operations at Arlington National Cemetery. I would first like to thank the gentleman from California, Chairman Filner, for his leadership on this issue and bringing this bill to the floor to make sure that this issue is put out there in the forefront, and to the gentleman from Indiana, Ranking Member Buyer, who has done the same, who is passionate about making sure that we are doing the right thing and making the right decisions. I think the ranking member points out some great things we ought to remember, and that is, let's make sure we do a proper examination. Let's not be hasty in reaching judgments. Let's make sure that we are thoughtful about this and make sure we are holding people accountable and not too quickly getting to a point of transference but really getting at the root of the problem. So I appreciate the ranking member for his thoughtfulness on that. Mr. Speaker, these are our Nation's heroes who have fought and have died to protect our country, and they deserve absolute dignity and honor. The mishandling of remains and gravesites at Arlington has demonstrated that there was a clear lack of accountability. After allegations of mismanagement surfaced in June, Army Secretary John McHugh rightly came forward to accept responsibility and immediately made changes to correct the system. And I want to applaud the Secretary for doing that.…”