Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, each year the Environmental Protection Agency spends as much as $50 million a year to employ nearly 200 armed agents at an average cost of $216,000 per year per agent. The American people would likely be surprised to hear that. According to the nonprofit group OpenTheBooks, the EPA has spent millions of dollars over the years on things like antitank ammunition, amphibious assault craft, night-vision equipment, unmanned aircraft, and other military equipment. It is difficult for me to imagine that the EPA has a legitimate use for antitank ammunition. To me, this sounds like we are arming Delta Force. The difference is, Delta Force can explain why they need these things, the EPA cannot. These agents have been involved in raids in Alaska, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and my own State of Alabama. In Alaska, EPA agents wearing flak jackets and carrying semiautomatic rifles, shotguns, and sidearms showed up to review paperwork at a family-owned mining operation. In my own State of Alabama, armed EPA agents took over two waste treatment facilities in Dothan, Alabama. These agents were posted at each entrance to the plant and recorded identification information of all those going in and going out. The EPA is just one of more than 70 Federal agencies that employ armed personnel, many of which most Americans would never associate with law enforcement.…”