Political Quotes

“The Coastal Barrier Resources Act, or CBRA as we call it, is a great example of successful Federal land management. When President Reagan signed it in 1982, he explained that without this statute, the Federal Government would be subsidizing development in risky areas and would subsequently be on the hook for disaster costs when storms inevitably hit these vulnerable regions. He said that CBRA would ``halt the Federal subsidy spiral,'' by discouraging Federal investments in development on storm-prone coastal lands, lands that, if developed, would put human lives and property at risk, and also cost taxpayers billions of dollars in disaster relief. In the years since this law was enacted, the U.S. taxpayer has saved over $9.5 billion in disaster costs alone and the act has protected millions of acres of habitat. Mr. Speaker, I will hand it to President Reagan. Signing this bill into law was actually in line with conservative conservation, mainly because CBRA was and is the type of innovative policy we need to conserve habitat and make our coastlines more resilient to climate change, all while saving American taxpayers money. I thank Mr. Rouzer for working with Democrats to produce a bill that we can all support today. As the bill was originally introduced, it would have amended CBRA to allow taxpayer dollars to subsidize taking sand from CBRA units for beach renourishment at a handful of beaches outside the CBRA system.…”