Richard Shelby Quotations

We believe we have crafted a bill that reflects the priorities of the committee as well as those of the entire Senate,

Throughout the life of this investigation, I have taken the position that I never knowingly disclosed any classified information. My position has not changed,

We've got a meeting next week with the attorney general, and we're going to carry it all the way to the White House if we have to, because this inquiry has to be done,

We had no specific warning of the United States being attacked, although people have alluded to that before,

The process of what happened and how it happened was very troubling, and I think it tainted the whole situation.

There are thousands of these surface-to-air missiles around the world.

Let's hope the area will be calm. But we're all concerned,

Let's follow the money, ... If we follow the money, we're going to get to the truth, and I think the truth will not be very nice.

shows that the FBI and the other agencies of the intelligence community must remain vigilant.

Mister Secretary, you should be here today, of all people,

Mr. Pollard committed very serious crimes against the United States, and it is appropriate that he be punished for them,

I don't believe he served the president well, ... I don't believe he served the nation well.

I am confident that this nominee will be thoroughly questioned but also well-received by all members of our committee.

I am concerned about this regime remaining in power,

I am disappointed that the Air Force did not choose Selma as the site for their Introductory Flight Training program. I believe Selma is an excellent location for IFT, as it meets all the education and training requirements set forth by the Air Force.

I am changing parties to a party of hope for America, not a party of dependency,

I believe the continuation of subsidized rates, particularly for properties that have suffered repetitive losses and those that are vacation homes, represents a financial drain on the flood insurance fund while encouraging families to remain living in harms way,

I believe that I have enough information -- that is, intelligence -- to make an informed decision this coming week on whether or not to support the president of the United States, ... Late Edition.

But this was the first strong message that the president put out like that, and I think he had to do it. He had no choice.

because they all go into the mix of the economy.

I have been confident that the committee would dismiss this matter, and I was pleased to learn of their decision to do just that,

I have met Scott Ritter before and I think he's an idealist. I think he wants to believe that everybody's good and the world's going to be safe. But I don't believe there's any real credence to his statements. It looks to me like he's over there courting Saddam Hussein at the wrong time at the wrong place.

I can tell you that at the end of the day, we're going to have to make some tough decisions.

I don't think you could read anything in it conclusively,

He has not done a good job. I think he should go.

What do you gain by leaving someone in a very sensitive position for so many years?

What we've got to do is find the truth.

He should step down, ... Face the Nation.

We must guard against what the world witnessed last week in London.

Joel is the champion. I want to apologize to all the spellers. Seldom do we have these problems at the spelling bees.

I think it is working, but I don't think you could say it is working well -- not after such a glaring mistake.

I think that people are concerned about the ethical problems here,

I think the basic tenet that we learned is a lack of coordination and sharing of information, different cultures in the community of intelligence. We have done our job, and now we have got to do more legislatively and the people who run the intelligence community have got to do theirs.

I think what you will see as these hearings come on and information dribbles out is a failure, big time, in communication between the agencies, ... We have to do better.

Otherwise the taxpayer is going to ultimately underwrite everybody's risk,

I wish ... that the administration would agree to declassify a lot more of the report. Seventy percent -- or whatever the figure is -- is not enough. Probably you could go and declassify 90, 95 percent of it without any harm at all to national security. That would be my considered judgment.

I think they're beginning to ... but they waited a long time. They could have done more immediately, ... Meet the Press.

The American people fear there is some gouging going on.

I would like to know how it could take us 10 years, dozens of lives, numerous lawsuits, substantial consumer complaints, tire replacements overseas and repeated expressions of concern by an insurance company before any action was taken to initiate an investigation into the safety of a product being used by millions of American families. Simply put - the American people deserve better.

I would like for them to be our ally, but you can't have it both ways, ... Meet the Press.

Most banks can sell your information-your balances, your address, your Social Security number-without your permission. That's violating your confidentiality. That's breaking your trust. I think it's important to change that, don't you?

Whether due to a lack of resources or other pressing priorities, mutual fund abuses simply did not receive adequate attention from the SEC,

We need to know what happened, how it happened and what we can do about it. And then, after that, I think we have to look forward, ... I think it's going to take a restructuring, legislatively, of our entire intelligence ... communities.

The question is, 'Will he lead rather than follow?'

The fact that they've waited this long to get it out is troubling,

We don't need another nuclear power -- not with Iran sponsoring terrorism that it has in the past. The fact that they are seemingly pursuing an avenue to build nuclear weapons should be disturbing to everybody.

We knew that it was going to be a lot of money and it was going to take a lot of time,

We've got to finish the job. Otherwise, the damage that they did two years ago

We must also look for ways to reduce mandatory spending which comprises more than two-thirds of the federal budget.

We all have the concerns that we need to spend more and more money at home helping our own people.

What is the role of the CIA? Is it to enforce policies? is it to be an arbitrator? Is it to be bodyguards? I think not.

This nomination brings controversy to an agency that's at a crucial, critical time in its history,

Following Hurricane Katrina, state Medicaid agencies, including Alabama's, have been significantly strained as they work to meet the needs of residents and evacuees from other areas, ... This legislation is important as it provides the much-needed federal assistance for hurricane-affected states.

I share the president's commitment to bolstering the American economy, and I support his plan for targeted tax relief.

The same thing at the CIA and the FBI,

It would be embarrassing, I think, to a lot of people there, ... Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer.

Technology-driven proposals promoting electronic delivery of proxy materials and the use of interactive data will empower shareholders to make better informed investment decisions.

Saddam Hussein has been tenacious in his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and, unless he is removed from power, he will eventually harm our nation and our allies. Every moment we delay allows him to grow stronger.

a vigorous examination on both sides of the aisle.

This is perhaps just the tip of an iceberg. We need security at our national labs. ... It has been too loose, too long, and it's too important,

There was not anything in there that most of us on the committee didn't already know, ... I believe that this story that the president had strong information to act on -- that's a bogus story.

There will be a continuous talk, but I think as far as passing legislation, I don't see it coming this year.

The reports are all preliminary, but we hope to know more in the next few hours, ... They didn't totally connect it, but they didn't rule it out.

A sizable portion of properties continue to receive insurance rates that are far from actuarially sound,

All of us want to see the details of any legislative plan if there's going to be a legislative response, but Congress, I believe, is in the mood to do whatever it takes to win this war against terrorism.

It's a sad day for security, ... What is it going to take?

It is overreaching, bureaucratic nonsense like this that makes people distrust and resent government,

Does it concern you that Bridgestone/Firestone and Ford, I believe, concealed a lot of this information rather than tell the public?

That's a dicey proposition right now. I don't know how you can create a Palestinian state at the moment with all of the violence that's going on, all of the terrorist attacks,

It leads you to ask the question: Was it politically expedient not to pursue information like this? Should it have been pursued in earlier years? Should it have been pursued before now? I'd say yes,

It's very important that we bring credibility, which is integrity, to our capital markets. And we're going to have to do this by strengthening in a big way our accounting profession.

This is just the beginning, I believe, of more terrorist attacks -- not only in Indonesia, but elsewhere in the world, ... Everywhere, including the United States, will be at risk.

Everywhere, including the United States, will be at risk.

The message has to be that we're gonna hunt you down and we're gonna find you and we're gonna make you pay that price, ... We're not gonna let you attack our people innocent people and walk away, because if we do there will be more attacks.

The fact you might capture part of the king's bodyguard doesn't mean you've got the king.

I'm going to support the president, and I believe there will be about 70 or 80 senators that will do the same.

I'm going to do whatever I can to help, ... Selma is going to really shine.

I know the director over there is in denial, but I believe he's totally wrong, and facts will be brought out to prove that,

If there's not any endgame, we're in quicksand. We take one more step, and we're still there, and there's no way out.

If you're going to move to private accounts, which I approve of, (you) have to do it in a cautious, gradual way,

I subscribe entirely and wholeheartedly to that dual mandate, ... I do not subscribe to any rigid or mechanical rule in policy making.

I plan to work with the Senate leadership and my colleagues to develop a comprehensive approach to address and ultimately pay for this reconstruction effort. I am willing to do my part, but it is essential that we all reexamine and reprioritize our spending as a result of this natural disaster.

I believe it will be some time before we have a true understanding of the actual damages and recovery needs in the region, ... We have already acted and will continue to act in the Senate, on both sides of the aisle, to make sure the victims have everything they need to be made whole, to be back on their feet, make no mistake about it.

I believe it will be a big debate, but at end of day I don't believe we'll let cloning of human embryos,

How we do it, when we do it, I don't know and I'm not even sure the president knows,

I do believe it's a lot more flexible, but it ought to be done and done right, ... Often times we have to dig down and deal with terrorists or would-be terrorists, someone probably as bad as these people.

I do believe that the American people need to know a lot about the shortcomings of our intelligence community, but they also need to know the good things that are going on, and what we are going to do in this investigation, I believe, is bring out the best of both,

I believe before they do anything substantive down there to rebuild, really rebuild, they should strengthen those levees ... otherwise, with hurricanes coming along, we could be right where we started,

I believe he will enforce the law without prejudice,

He passed the buck to no one. He accepted it in the mold of President Truman. He admitted a lot. He admitted that no one was prepared. And that means the federal government, the state and the local governments. He was very, very honest, upfront. I think this is a new beginning.

the implicit message is that there will be more, not less, of these kinds of things that will pop up.

The diligence of the Justice Department and the FBI just was not there. I don't think the country was well served.

The local tool rental place has a much better idea of where their tools are.

The Treasury's plan has little for those outside of the financial industry. It is aimed at rescuing the same financial institutions that created this crisis with the sloppy underwriting and reckless disregard for the risk they were creating, taking or passing on to others.

It has become increasingly clear to me that the White House is not interested in good-faith negotiations.

We have got to be a hell of a lot more aggressive.

I believe that reforming our intelligence community is one of the most important things that we can do in order to ensure that our country is in fact safer, stronger and wiser.

We cannot cut and run. If we are to ensure freedom and democracy, it is essential that we follow through on our obligation to bring about stability in Iraq.

Unions don't create jobs. People create jobs.

I never apologize for my efforts to support worthy projects that Alabama.