Russ Feingold Quotes (83 Quotes)

The only likely contender for 08 who has so far made it clear that the war in Iraq is damaging U. S. national security and has actually proposed an exit strategy is Wisconsin senator Russ Feingold. Its time for senators and members of Congress, especially those from my own party, to be less timid while this administration neglects urgent national security priorities in favor of staying a flawed policy course in Iraq, ... Lets see if we can remove the troops after we succeed with a series of steps by the end of December 2006.

The minor good news is that Democrats are finding their voice and they've broken the taboo against talking about the war.

We should not use special budget procedures to jam through legislation to drill in the Arctic Refuge. This topic is too important to the public to address it in such a back-door manner. We should be having a full, open discussion of the issue during an energy debate.

Some have called for a dignified process. So have I. But at times, it sounds like what some really want for the nominee is an easy process,

The refusal gives rise to a reasonable inference that the administration has something to hide here. The administration has done this nominee no service by maintaining its intransigent position.

Senator Proxmire leaves behind an unparalleled legacy as a defender of the American taxpayer and one of the hardest working senators in U.S. history.

Over the last five years, Wisconsinites have lost nearly 80,000 manufacturing jobs, largely because of unfair trade agreements and questionable administration policies.

Most importantly, it provides an answer to the terrorists' very effective argument when they say, Come to Iraq and fight the American occupation',

The American people deserve a clear plan for concluding our military mission. And the Iraqi people need to know without any doubt that we do not intend to stay in that country indefinitely.

What is the harm of doing the right thing? What is the harm of doing our job as legislators and making sure we do not stick the entire bankruptcy community with these provisions that do not make any sense?

Rather than continuing with a media blitz that tries to repackage a 'stay the course' strategy that isn't working, the president and his administration should give the public a plan, with a timetable, to complete the military mission in Iraq.

Now you are talking about an extremely rushed process for chief justice and I'm not at all sure that can be done within that time period. I will not take steps to purposely delay it. I would like to see him on the court by that time.

Using the power of our television airwaves could go a long way in helping to bring families back together after this tragedy. It would also ease the enormous anxiety and pain many must feel not knowing the condition of their loved ones, ... This could do a great deal to restore hope to those who have lost so much in this national tragedy.

Every one of the new Democratic senators has come up to me and come up to John and said, 'We want to be a part of this.' By the time this thing is done, every Democrat will be there,

As with the Bosnia mission, there is no clear set of goals, beyond maintaining a currently nonexistent peace. There is no timetable with withdrawal, no cost assessment, no exit strategy.

The appointment of a chief justice is the ultimate level of scrutiny. So it raises the stakes. Obviously, Roberts has many qualifications as a jurist, but the issues for this country are so intense when it comes to replacing the chief justice that it requires thorough hearings.

I think it would be useful for us to have a sense who that other justice may be. Because it obviously has to do with the composition and balance of the court.

Make no mistake, our military readiness is already suffering, ... According to a recent RAND study, the Army has been stretched so thin that active-duty soldiers are now spending one of every two years abroad, leaving little of the Army left in any appropriate condition to respond to crises that may emerge elsewhere in the world. In an era in which we confront a globally networked enemy, and at a time when nuclear weapons proliferation is an urgent threat, continuing on our present course is irresponsible at best.

This amendment targets a specific group of Americans and permanently excludes them from certain rights and benefits, ... The most often discussed text for a marriage amendment would not only ban same-sex marriages, it would threaten civil union and domestic partnerships laws at the state and local levels.

We couldn't break the filibuster without making some changes, we have to break the filibuster so we can at least have the House and the Senate both have a bill,

How much longer can the elected representatives of the American people in this Congress allow the President to rack up over a billion dollars a week in new debts This war is draining, by one estimate, 5.6 billion every month from our economy, funds that might be used to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina recover, or to help address the skyrocketing health care costs facing businesses and families, or to help pay down the enormous debt this government has already piled up.

I think we have to at least openly consider at what point we can bring our troops home or, at least, to begin to bring our troops home. Not only from the point of view of making sure there is support from the American people for this continued effort but also to consider whether the large presence of American troops here could contribute to or feed the insurgency and whether in any way it makes it more difficult for a government of national unity to be created.

This proposal is unacceptable. The administration has been talking about war in Iraq for quite some time now. Surely they had the time to draft a more careful, thoughtful proposal than the irresponsibly broad and sweeping language that they sent to Congress.

I have continuing concern war about the war in Iraq, the need to address health care and job losses.

This amendment raises the very distinct prospect, which I believe all of us fear, that the entire effort will fall if the U.S. Supreme Court finds one defect, this is a critical amendment in that regard,

If a trip is worth taking, members of Congress should be prepared to justify paying for it out of their office accounts.

We have to get the job done. We can't just rest on our laurels of this wonderful vote,

We had a real chance to pass a bill that would both reauthorize the tools to prevent terrorism and fix the provisions that threaten the rights and freedoms of innocent Americans. This conference report... falls well short of that goal. I will vote no.

Unfair trade agreements, passed by both Republicans and Democrats, have sent millions of jobs to other countries. We need to stop this hemorrhaging and find ways for American workers to compete in the new market.

The road before us won't be easy -- real change never is, ... But we have to find common ground on this issue. The way we finance campaigns today has a direct impact on your faith in government, and it has a real impact on people's lives. We need a government that stands up for all Americans, without regard to how much money they have.

still carry the heavy burden of not knowing the whereabouts of loved ones, especially loved ones.

The president is not telling us the time frame ... what's happening is that the American public is despairing of the situation,

It is not undignified to ask the nominee questions he would rather not answer, should he prefer to remain inscrutable or, worse yet, all things to all people.

The cost of this .... is staggering.

I have been assured by the chairman of the federal budget committee that the milk tax provision would not be included in the next federal spending bill. But that doesn't mean we're not going to keep an eye on the matter. The tax is something that our dairy industry cannot afford.

One of the major challenges our government faces in the post-911 world is the ability to rapidly process information in a large variety of languages,

The administration has a disturbing pattern of behavior when it comes to budgeting not only for the ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan but also for military requirements not directly related to these conflicts.

does not compound the hardship for thousands of hardworking Americans who simply will not be able to make ends meet as a result of this disaster.

It is not only all right but necessary to stand up to George Bush.

I believe the same thing is true with the military mission,

I do, however, recognize that this is a different time, and he has been nominated to play a different kind of role than he played in those early Reagan years. So, frankly, I will be looking for a somewhat different John Roberts than the John Roberts of 1985.

The right thing for the United States right now is to refocus on the fight against terrorism,

should disqualify you from being on the Supreme Court.

Its the reality of a situation like this that when you have a large troop presence that it has the tendency to fuel the insurgency, because they can make the incorrect and unfair claim that somehow the United States is here to occupy this country, which of course is not true.

Judge Roberts' impeccable legal credentials, his reputation and record as a fair-minded person, and his commitment to modesty and respect for precedent have persuaded me that he will not bring an ideological agenda.

We give military aid to the Indonesian government, we give economic aid through international monetary organizations to Indonesia. We should be prepared to pull all of that.

Unfortunately, the information available to me about this matter comes from press reports and public statements rather than from the administration directly,

We have created a breeding ground for terrorism in Iraq, ... It's not the fault of the brave (military) women and men. It's the fault of the people who sent them there.

He does not have a sufficiently strong dedication to civil rights law that I believe a judge on this circuit court must have.

The Bush administration did a brilliant job, which has continued until today, not in getting us into the war and handling it correctly, but they did a brilliant job of intimidating us into somehow thinking that if we didn't vote for this, we weren't supporting the troops and we were soft on terror,