Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the resolution, which I sponsored with many other Members of Congress. And I would first of all like to thank the committee and the leadership they provided in a bipartisan fashion to bring this bill to the floor. As has been stated, the ocean is our largest public trust. It covers two-thirds of the planet. It's responsible for one-third of the total gross domestic product of the United States. It is closely linked to our day-to-day activities and, frankly, to the success of our Nation. Tom Friedman said, ``A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.'' We cannot let the crisis that has happened in the gulf pass us by. We've faced disasters in this country before, and we have moved to act. After Rachel Carson wrote ``Silent Spring'' in 1962, and the Santa Barbara oil spill happened in 1969, the environmental movement took a strong hold in the United States. Congress followed up by adopting the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act in short order. We will debate the acts that we have to take following the crisis in the gulf, but today we are joined in unanimous thought that the ocean is important, and it warrants its recognition. We might say it's a very salty week here in Washington. June is the National Oceans Month. This week is the Capitol Hill Oceans Week, where members of the ocean interests and science community come to Washington to petition their government. And yesterday was World Ocean Day.…”