Sam Farr: “I must rise to urge that we not override the veto. The veto is there because the President found that there were things…”

“I must rise to urge that we not override the veto. The veto is there because the President found that there were things in this bill that were broken, that need fixing, and we in Congress can fix those things. The President rejected the clear-cutting of the Tongass National Forest. The President rejected the jeopardizing of the Columbia River Basin ecosystem management plan. The President recognized that this bill kills the California Desert Protection Act that Congress enacted last year. This bill prohibits the protection of the habitat for endangered species and further prohibits any further listing of endangered species. This bill walks away from the commitment of the Indian Health Service and Indian education. It walks away from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Humanities. In particular let us talk about that for a moment. I think the shutdown of the Federal Government has drawn national attention to the importance that the arts play particularly here in Washington, DC. Indeed our country has said that these things are important. This bill cuts funding for those important programs.”