Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the rule and the underlying bills--H.R. 5544, the Minnesota Education Investment and Employment Act, and H.R. 5949, the FISA Amendments Act Reauthorization Act. There are significant problems in both pieces of legislation. However, both bills are, nevertheless, being brought forward under a restrictive process, despite the efforts of my colleague, Mr. McGovern, to amend the rule to allow for an open rule on amendments on both debates. Unfortunately, that motion failed in the Rules Committee. Instead, this rule is a restrictive process that limits debate and discussion that can improve this legislation. Let me briefly address the lands law before getting to the FISA bill, which is of great concern to our civil liberties. We have before us a bill that allows for the exchange of 86,000 acres of Minnesota's school trust lands within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for unidentified Forest Service lands. The wilderness is a critical asset for northeastern Minnesota's tourism and recreation industry, as well as the most popular wilderness area in our Nation's wilderness system. But since the bill doesn't even give details about what public land would be lost, we can't even say how bad a deal this is for the American people.…”