Political Quotes

“This bill, the VA-HUD, Independent Agencies, which includes EPA, space, FEMA, and others, took a 12 percent this year. There was no way we could continue to fund these special projects each Member had in specific cities. Now, some people would call them pork projects, but, frankly, these are all very important, necessary environmental projects designed to clean up our waterways and other vital elements of the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there are approximately $100 billion of infrastructure needs for clean water and safe drinking water in the country today. What we have tried to do is to say, we are not going to appropriate, in this bill, specific sums for specific projects, because there is no way that we can know how to rank $100 billion of needs throughout the country. We have set up State revolving funds, loan funds that will revolve and provide assistance to communities, and be paid back to help other communities within that State. That is why we have worked hard to put additional dollars into the revolving fund.”