Jim Saxton: “Those are the basic reasons that Secretary Babbitt has indicated some disagreement with this bill. That is the basic…”

“Those are the basic reasons that Secretary Babbitt has indicated some disagreement with this bill. That is the basic reason that I think the President will veto the bill. Those are the basic reasons that I think the Senate will not pass the bill. And those are the basic reasons why I think the bill unamended by Boehlert will fail here today. Now, the Boehlert amendment, on the other hand, will be targeted at what Pombo and Herger claim correctly that their complaint is that ESA prevents vital repairs to levees and other flood control projects, and we agree. We think relief is needed. We believe that our amendment, therefore, will exempt the repair of flood control projects from the consultation requirements of ESA all across the country, not just in California. It applies to both disaster areas and to any place where a project poses an imminent threat to human life or property and, as I said, it applies nationwide. So this amendment, this bill as amended by the gentleman from New York [Mr. Boehlert] can become law. It goes to accomplish the purposes of the gentleman from California [Mr. Herger] and the gentleman from California [Mr. Pombo]. I believe that we should vote for it on a bipartisan basis. I think we should get behind it wholeheartedly and pass this amendment so that we can have a bill that becomes law.”