Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I thank my good friend for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. Now, we know the Natural Resources Committee is a rowdy one to manage, with lots of difficult decisions and inflamed passions. But I thank Chairman Bishop and the great subcommittee chairmen and all of the members for doing a great job in ensuring that the American people are the ultimate beneficiaries of our amazing public lands and waters. This title XIV language that would be stripped out of the underlying bill by this amendment was taken from my bill, the Preserving Public Access to Public Waters Act, which has 36 bipartisan cosponsors, including nearly two-thirds of the Florida delegation. Floridians understand the importance of balancing environmental, recreational, and economic considerations along our coast because our State is the fishing capital of the world. With that balance in mind, we worked to carefully develop and tailor this language so that it would only apply to a very small area of near- shore waters with deep importance to fishermen. My colleague and this amendment's sponsor himself said in the committee markup that the National Park Service and the National Marine Sanctuaries cover a negligible percentage of waters within traditional State jurisdiction. He is right that we are talking about a relatively small area, but these waters have outsized importance to the folks living in nearby communities.…”