Political Quotes

“Reclaiming my time, I do think this year is different than in past years, because in past years, this House is controlled by Republicans. That means every committee has a Republican as the Chair of that committee. For the last 4 years, the veterans of this country have had a friend in the chair's position, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith). The gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) was a member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs for 24 years. For almost a quarter of a century this man served on the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. He had served as the chair of the committee for the last 4 years. Quite frankly, when the President tried in the past to impose a user fee of $250 a year and when he tried to increase the cost of a prescription drug from $7 to $15, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) as the Republican chairman was effective in keeping those increases from being enacted. Well, what did they do to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith)? At the beginning of this Congress the Republican leadership in this House called the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) in, according to newspaper reports, and they basically stripped him of his position as the Chair of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. But not only that, they took him off the entire committee, a committee he served on for 24 years. I wonder, where were the friends of the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) in this Chamber?”