Political Quotes

“I thank Mr. Payne for his leadership on the Homeland Security Committee and also for his hard work on this legislation, which, again, has been closely watched back home in Connecticut and on the other side of Long Island Sound, as Mr. Zeldin indicated as well, in the State of New York. Again, I rise in strong support, with my colleague, for passage of H.R. 2182, the Plum Island Preservation Act. This has been an effort that has been ongoing since Congress, unfortunately, took, I think, a wrong turn when they enacted legislation in 2009, with the goal of trying to create funding for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Kansas; but in the process of doing that, it set up a truncated sale of this property, which really deviated from the normal GSA process of trying to exhaust other beneficial uses before putting it up for sale to the highest bidder. Again, that has been the struggle for people on both sides of the Long Island Sound, who have been frustrated by the fact that, because Congress mandated a sale without any other options, the incredible, pristine environmental quality of this precious piece of property was basically pushed down the food chain in terms of, again, the way the Federal Government was operating. Again, I think it is important to recognize--and my colleagues from New York, Mr. Donovan and Mr. Zeldin, understand this--this still is the most densely populated area of America.…”