Political Quotes

“I am going to say a few words, and then others who have supported these bills, such as Senator Cornyn, Senator Hoeven, and Senator Welch, will speak to others as well. The bill that I am very gratified and grateful that this body has now approved is S. 5136, the Plum Island Preservation Study Act, with the amendment that we just approved as well. Very simply, I have been working on this issue for a long time. Plum Island has been there for a long time. Indigenous people treasure Plum Island; 800 acres with plant and animal species; thriving seal populations; species that now are endangered, like the piping plover and the roseate tern; and over the years, two significant locations: Fort Terry and the Plum Island Lighthouse. It was a treasure then, and it is a treasure now. I haven't been working on it for as long as, obviously, it has been regarded as a treasure, but over the years that I have worked on it now--more than a decade--with Majority Leader Schumer, Senator Gillibrand, and Senator Murphy, as well as State and local stakeholders and countless advocates, we have come to the realization that we need to preserve Plum Island. Those 800 acres are in the midst of one of the most densely populated areas in the United States, and Plum Island is a home to those really valuable species of wildlife and habitat, an ecosystem that really supports wildlife up and down the east coast, for example, when populations of birds come there to rest and nest.…”