Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise today to ask my colleagues to support increased accountability of the Army Corps of Engineers. I thank, of course, Chairman Rogers and Chairman Simpson for their work on this appropriations bill and leadership to ensure scarce taxpayer dollars are well spent. My amendment seeks to strike all funding for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. Under current law, fringe groups are allowed to, for the cost of a postage stamp, Mr. Chair, file lawsuits against any infrastructure project needing a clean water permit that they spot in the Federal Register. This is outrageous. These lawsuits and the fear of them have stopped a number of worthy projects that were necessary for local governments to protect their constituents. The Corps' failure to defend the public safety is because of a serious lack of leadership by the Corps, in my opinion. One such project in Pasco County, Florida, my Congressional District, is the Ridge Road extension, a much-needed route for hurricane evacuation. {time} 1530 For over two decades, this project has been in the permitting process because of the bureaucratic paper shuffling and duplicative environmental studies.…”