Political Quotes

“It makes no difference. You have no access to it. You cannot mine. You know that, Mr. Sloss, they cannot start in the mining area. Now, wait a minute, it's my time, my time. They denied the right to that area. We were told in committee, ``Don't worry about it, your claims will be protected.'' But the Park Service says, ``No, no,'' they have a huge deposit, and it cannot be used, and they lost the value of that. I was on this floor when they did it. You talk about this great California wilderness bill; try 147 million acres in one fell swoop. Try that for size. Then we go to Denali Park or Glacier Park, if you wish to call it that, we have miners in there. Now the solution is, may I remind my good friend, the solution is we are going to take tax dollars from the American citizens and buy those claims out not because they want to sell them but because they have to because they cannot operate in there with the Park's restrictions. They are no longer compatible. But we were told, ``Don't worry about it, existing rights shall remain with those that have them. Don't worry about it. We will take care of you.'' The check is in the mail. Now, I am just asking one little simple amendment to have Mr. Pombo's amendment accepted or say any roads in this area shall be available, shall be available for those private landholders. Now, what is wrong with that? I listened to this debate over in my office, I watched what was going on here, and it is absolutely true.…”