Patrick Leahy: “a number of us during the quorum call were complimenting each other on both sides of the aisle for working through a…”

“a number of us during the quorum call were complimenting each other on both sides of the aisle for working through a complex piece of legislation on which we still have some paperwork to do, but it will pass this body unanimously. If any piece of legislation should, it is this one. I alluded to the fact that our responsibility in other parts of the world goes beyond just a sense of altruism. Obviously, to the extent that we alleviate hunger, suffering, and disease in parts of the world, we make those parts of the world able to have stability and become less of a threat to themselves, their neighbors, and also to the United States. We also have to ask ourselves this question as Americans: When you live in the wealthiest, most powerful Nation history has ever known, with a standard of living for most Americans so substantially above that of billions of other people, when you look at nations where they don't even list the birth of babies until they make sure they survive for a year, or get the kind of normal things my grandchildren get, such as inoculations, vaccinations, and so on, it is almost unheard of-- there is either no money for it or no way to bring it to them. And people starve by the thousands in some countries, every month, suffering genocide, slaughter, and some of the worst conditions that exist. We have a moral responsibility, to the extent that this country can help.…”