Charles Norwood: “I rise reluctantly to oppose my friend, the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Gibbons). But I do admire a worthy opponent, and…”

“I rise reluctantly to oppose my friend, the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Gibbons). But I do admire a worthy opponent, and he most assuredly has been that. I also find it very interesting that I rise and agree with both of the gentlemen from Michigan. The senior Member from Michigan, my good turkey-hunting buddy, has called this bill a turkey; and he and I both know that the turkey is a noble bird. We both know that had it been left to Ben Franklin, of course, that would be one of our national symbols. So we are ending up with a bill that does not really suit any of us on the Committee on Commerce. We would much rather have our bill. And I am going to support this bill not because I think it is a perfect bill. It is far from that. There are many aspects of this bill that I would certainly like to see changed. I am particularly disappointed that there are no interim storage or take-title provisions, among other things. But, in short, this is a seriously watered down bill. Now, I support this bill because I am sick and tired of the President playing games with this important issue; and I, for one, am ready to call his bluff. He says he wants to support responsible management of our nuclear waste. Yet every single time, every single time we have made a concession and moved his way, he says it is not good enough and wants more. It has happened every time. It is a classic case of moving the goal post. It is, obviously, that he does not want a bill to sign.”