Political Quotes

“I appreciate this bill on two points. I appreciate the fact that the chairman of the Science and Technology Committee has been willing to bring forth this bill, which is very critical at a very critical time. I also want to thank the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Mrs. Dahlkemper) for raising this issue. From the Science and Technology Committee's point of view, this is an appropriate action to take. Sadly, Madam Speaker, we should have sitting on the podium next to our chairman the chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, because I think all of us will agree that all of the funding and all of the studies do not accomplish anything if we do not have access to the material to make it reality. One of the critical things we need to do is to bridge the gap between what we know we need to do and what we allow to be done. One of the sad things right now is the fact that we keep talking about great breakthroughs. We have got to recognize that all of us are so excited about high-tech electrification of transportation systems, about the efficiency and energy saved there and about the reduction in the carbon footprint. If we want to drive our Priuses, then we have to be brave enough not only to support this bill but to tell our colleagues that we have to open up the public lands to allow the mining to be done so that we will have access to create these miracles.”