The Hill News

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) criticized John Kerry for seemingly invoking the sacrifice of fallen U.S. servicemembers in criticizing the pledge championed by anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist and signed by most Republican congressmen during a radio interview Monday, calling Kerry's comments "not appropriate."

On Meet the Press Sunday, Kerry described visiting the gravesite of a college classmate at Arlington National Cemetery, and says he asked himself if as members of Congress, "are we living up to the sacrifice, to the level of commitment these guys made for us? Are we willing to put our political lives on the line for our country, do what we need to do because we know it's right?"

"And then I hear about this pledge, a pledge to a lobbyist that gets in the way of our living up to that sacrifice and doing what's right for our country," Kerry continued. "The fact is, I took a pledge. My pledge is to the constitution of United States, to defend it. M! y pledge is to well and faithfully execute my duties. And that does not include living up to a pledge to a lobbyist for a deficit reduction committee that is now hung up because we won't do the Bush tax cuts permanently, even though we could have accelerated tax reform by next year.

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