Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from Washington. It is my pleasure now to yield 3 minutes to another distinguished gentleman from the State of Washington and member of our committee, Mr. McDermott. (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.) Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to support H.R. 3801, the Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2012. This bill, as you have heard, will help prevent drug smuggling across our borders, and it does it, really, in three ways: It amends the current law to give our prosecutors the authority to charge smugglers who fly ultralight aircraft the same way as they charge smugglers who fly conventional aircraft. Second, the bill adds both an ``attempt'' and a ``conspiracy'' provision to the aviation smuggling law. That means our prosecutors will be able to seek higher penalties when it makes sense. And finally, the bill directs the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security to collaborate in identifying equipment and technology that could be used by our Customs officials to detect these ultralight aircraft. This is a commonsense piece of legislation that addresses a real problem and does so in a way that deserves broad bipartisan support. A very similar bill passed the House in the last Congress by a vote of 412-3. So this is a broad bipartisan bill. I expect this bill to pass with the same kind of bipartisan support today.…”