Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for his comments and for promoting this good work in his district, and I thank him for his public service. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss an important piece of legislation that I am working on here in the people's House. The Ouachita Mountains inside the Ouachita National Forest stretches some 220 miles from my district in central Arkansas to eastern Oklahoma. For 50 years now, I have sought refuge and pleasure in visiting a remarkable corner of the rugged Arkansas Ouachita National Forest mountains called Flatside. It is named for a sandstone outcrop that dominates the forest below. Mr. Speaker, you can see in this photo on one very cold February day with a blanket of snow on the ground that I was looking west from the top of Flatside toward another high point in the wilderness area called Forked Mountain. My guide that day was my good friend of now 50 years and longtime neighbor in Little Rock, Don Hamilton. Don is a longtime member of the Ozark Society, a former board member for the National Wildlife Federation, and a tireless advocate for wilderness areas in our Nation. {time} 1215 At the time of this photo, I was a Senate staffer, and Don was urging me to persuade my then boss, U.S. Senator John Tower, a Republican from Texas, to cosponsor Democrat Arkansas Senator Dale Bumpers' Arkansas Wilderness Act. This act would establish the 10,000 acres of public U.S.…”