Political Quotes

“Madam President, earlier there was a lot of discussion about the NDAA--the Defense authorization bill--and the very important provisions which are contained in that which will provide for our men and women who serve us so honorably. I concur with all who have spoken today about the importance and significance of this bill and why we should pass it and why we should pass it today. An area of controversy that has certainly come up--and my colleague from Oklahoma has pointed it out very clearly--is the public lands package that has been attached to the NDAA. I will speak a little bit about where we are today and why we are dealing with this issue and why it is important that the Senate and Congress advance these public lands provisions for our country. I had an opportunity to speak in greater detail yesterday, but I felt it was important to let colleagues know why we deal with public lands bills traditionally in a package. The Presiding Officer comes from a Western State, but Hawaii does not have large portions of land held by the Federal Government. In the 12 Western States, which includes Alaska--93 percent of the Federal lands that are held by this country are contained in these 12 Western States. What does it mean when you are a State like Alaska where some 68 percent of your lands are Federally held? What does it mean when you are a State like Nevada, where our majority leader is from, where 85 percent of your State is held in public lands?…”