Political Quotes

“I will be brief, but I want to thank both Senators on the floor, Senators Boxer and Vitter, for working on this issue. It was critical for Alaska's fishermen and really for fishermen across the country. More importantly this will resolve the issue with the Coast Guard bill, which is critical to get done for many other reasons. First, on the discharge issue, as stated earlier, this is an important waiver for our fishermen in Alaska. This will ensure that a regulation that wasn't going to have any positive impact with regards to what they were attempting to do but would have a negative impact in regards to our fishermen--giving them a 3-year waiver is exceptional because every year we would have a 1-year waiver. So a 3-year waiver is fantastic, but I agree with Senator Boxer that this should be permanent. I would like to watch from the outside in to see how this develops over the years. The Coast Guard authorization bill was critical to get done. This has many important provisions. As the chair of the committee that dealt with the Coast Guard bill, not only this year but 2 years ago, we have been successful now at least since I have been chair to ensure the bill passed by unanimous consent and not to have big fights over working out the differences. Again, I thank Senator Vitter for his effort, making sure we move forward on this piece of legislation.…”