Sam Gibbons: “Mr. Chairman, I notice my colleague, the gentleman from Illinois, talks about the Commerce Clause. The Commerce Clause…”

“Mr. Chairman, I notice my colleague, the gentleman from Illinois, talks about the Commerce Clause. The Commerce Clause regulates commerce among the several States, but it is the 10th Amendment which reserves those powers not expressly delegated to the Federal Government to the States themselves and to the people. It is the health and safety of the people of those States through which this transport of hazardous nuclear waste material is going to take place. Those Governors have the right, notwithstanding any other arguments that I have heard here before, to regulate and ask that the safety of their constituents be protected. Let me also say something my mother said to me, that 'If you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail.' Governors across this Nation should prepare their response teams for the inevitable accident of nuclear waste. Mr. Chairman, I ask that my colleagues support this, support this in the name of safety, support this in the name of States' rights.”