Political Quotes

“That should be enough for Mr. DeFazio, the ranking member of the committee, to share his views on this legislation. I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio). Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, both for his leadership on these issues, and for the time. And I also would congratulate Chairman Young and others, particularly Suzanne Bonamici, from my State, who has taken a real leadership role on the issue of marine debris. We are choking the oceans to death. The lifeblood of our planet, the lungs of our planet, it is becoming a giant garbage dump. The Pacific Gyre can be seen from space. It is a massive gyre in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and we have to begin to deal seriously with these issues. It was just this week in the New York Times, photographs of the Dominican Republic, known for its pristine beaches, which had giant bulldozers on the beach trying to eat through about an 8-foot tall pile of plastic debris on the beaches. So this threatens the marine environment and all that which is dependent upon it, the creatures that live there, and those of us who harvest from that. And it is threatening tourism and recreation. Obviously, this has to be dealt with. I will say, this is good legislation, but it is a pathetic amount of money.…”