Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) has been an extraordinary leader on trying to address a critical need that the United States has. The Arctic Ocean is opening. There is not only a Northwest Passage, but there is a Northeast Passage. And this year, just a couple of weeks ago--less than 2 weeks ago--a cruise ship passed through the Northwest Passage without the aid of an icebreaker. We absolutely have to have a polar icebreaker. As the chairman said, we have one icebreaker today, and it is going to go in for overhaul. When it does, we have no heavy icebreaker either for the North Pole or the South Pole. We are in trouble. We have to have this. The U.S. Navy has to have it. U.S. security has to have it. And certainly for the commerce in the Arctic, we have to have it. It is a reality. The Arctic Ocean is opening. Commerce will take place. And it will also need military availability in that area. The legislation that is before us today does not have the proper language in it because of CBO sitting on their duff and doodling numbers when we know we need this language. The Senate appropriations bill has a billion dollars for icebreakers, but there is no authorization. Unfortunately, because of our rules here, we had to strip the language out. Later, we hope to put the language back in, but it is not available today. We have to have this.…”