Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I want to thank Chairman Calvert and the ranking members for the fine work they have done on H.R. 2822. I think, overall, it is a great bill. What my amendment does is move over $25 million from the Bureau of Land Management's law enforcement activities and transfer that money into the deficit savings account. Just a brief cap, BLM, Bureau of Land Management, has a force of roughly 200 uniformed officers and 70 criminal investigators on staff enforcing a wide range of laws. In addition, the FBI has 35,000 agents; the Department of Homeland Security has over 70,000 enforcement agents; the IRS has over 3,700 criminal investigation employees, including 2,600 special agents; the ATF has over 2,500 special agents; and the DEA has over 5,000. With just those five agencies, there are over 115,000 national law agents in just these five agencies. I feel that we have enough Federal agencies to deal with the problem to enforce the laws on the books, especially when we are talking about the violations on Federal lands. I reserve the balance of my time. Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment. The Acting CHAIR. The gentlewoman from Minnesota is recognized for 5 minutes. Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman's amendment would cut $25 million from the Bureau of Land Management program and put the savings into the so-called spending reduction account.…”