David Skaggs: “nobody can doubt that this is a major bill, one that includes many items of national importance and also a number of…”

“nobody can doubt that this is a major bill, one that includes many items of national importance and also a number of things of particular interest to specific States and cities. I want to briefly discuss one part of the bill that's of great national significance, but that's also particularly important to Colorado--funding for the Energy Department's environmental restoration and waste management programs. These are the programs that pay for cleaning up the sites where America developed, produced, and tested the atomic and nuclear weapons that brought us first national security, and then victory, in the cold war. That mission was accomplished--but the job isn't finished. We still have to clean up these sites. That is very much a part of the job, and paying for it is very much a part of the price, of our victory in the cold war. One of these sites is in Colorado, at Rocky Flats. In fact, Rocky Flats, which houses tons of plutonium and other dangerous materials, sits only 15 miles from the center of the Denver metropolitan area, with a population of 2.3 million people. Obviously, it's of utmost importance to all Coloradans that the Congress give high priority to making sure Rocky Flats is safe and cleaned up.”