Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the rule for providing debate on the National Defense Authorization Act, often called the NDAA, and also the Gaining Responsibility on Water Act. First let me address that act. They tried to create an acronym called the GROW Act, Gaining Responsibility on Water, trying to make it seem like it actually might help things grow, when it actually picks winners and losers in water-- and the losers are the environment, the State of California, and many others. There are also a lot of problems around the process for the GROW Act. It bypassed hearings and markups. In fact, up until this bill was published on the Rules Committee website, only lobbyists and a few Republicans even knew what many of the provisions in this bill were. This kind of backroom dealmaking is one of the reasons the general public holds Congress in such low esteem. There is an immense amount of opposition to this legislation, including from conservation groups, fishing groups, Native American Tribes, and the State of California. Mr. Speaker, I have several letters that I include in the Record in regard to opposition to H.R. 23.…”