Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise in wholehearted support of these amendments en bloc, which include amendments from our colleagues from Oregon (Mr. Bentz) and from Wisconsin (Mr. Tiffany). These amendments would ensure that the funds provided in title III are subject to the same overhead cap requirements and oversight measures as title I. The original point of this bill was to empower States and Tribes to carry out species conservation, not set up another Washington, D.C.- based Federal program, which is now what the bill does. Not only does title III change that intent by giving more than $180 million annually in the first 4 years to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but it was also added at the Rules Committee and was not part of the bill that the Committee on Natural Resources marked up. Because the Committee on Natural Resources never had the chance to debate this title when we marked up the original bill, we did not have the opportunity to add these good-governance amendments to it like we did for titles I and II. I believe that title III should be removed altogether. Unfortunately, Representative Moore's amendment, which would have removed title III, was not made in order, so we didn't even get the chance to debate it, much less vote on it today. {time} 1615 In the absence of that amendment, the least we can do is ensure funds allocated by title III are being spent responsibly and with some oversight.…”