Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, my district is home to the High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site, or HAATS. It is both a privilege and an honor representing the U.S. Department of Defense's lone training site where special aviators in the Nation's Armed Forces and the militaries of our foreign allies learn how to fly safely in mountainous, high-altitude environments. HAATS is a vital asset to our national security. Proposed wilderness expansions in this bill around HAATS are creating concerns about the future of the site's ability to be able to ensure military readiness for the men and women who may be deployed in combat zones in the Middle East. The sponsors of the CORE Act have indicated that their goal is to protect HAATS. The DOD looks to the Colorado-specific language of DOD's flight guidance, as published in the DOD AP/1 handbook, with regard to how to operate under the CORE Act. While I appreciate the DOD's guidance, I know all too well that regulatory changes do not provide certainty. We cannot risk the guidance being overturned by future administrations. So, in conversations with DOD, I asked if they had any objections to the Colorado language that is laid out in the AP/1 handbook being codified. Subsequently, in direct correspondence with my office on both May 13 and June 4 of this year, DOD both times stated no objection to the codification.…”