Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I come to the floor today to discuss an issue I have brought up before in the Senate that continues to trouble me. Whenever I meet with farmers and ranchers in Nebraska, they often raise concerns about regulatory overreach. I hear about the need for agencies such as the EPA to provide a more predictable and commonsense regulatory environment. So today I am introducing a bill that will do exactly that. It stops the EPA's use of aerial surveillance of agricultural operations for a period of 12 months--1 year. Earlier this year, I began hearing about this issue from constituents who are worried about privacy concerns. Thus, a few of my colleagues and I wrote to Administrator Jackson in late May asking her several questions about EPA's practice of flying over livestock operations and taking pictures. We were curious about the scope of flights over agriculture operations in Nebraska and around the country. We asked how the agency selects targets for surveillance and whether any images of residences, land, or buildings not subject to EPA regulation were being captured. Additionally, we asked a very fair question: We asked about the use of the images, where are they stored, how are they used, who are they shared with, and how long they would remain on file--all seemingly straightforward, fair, basic questions. Well, to say the least, EPA has been less than forthcoming about the use of aerial surveillance.…”