Elijah Lewis: “few bills we consider pose a greater threat to the health and well-being of our Nation than the one before us today.…”

“few bills we consider pose a greater threat to the health and well-being of our Nation than the one before us today. Nuclear waste is a deadly poison, a poison we must not treat lightly. We must develop an intelligent, thoughtful, and prudent nuclear waste policy. Mr. Speaker, this bill is not intelligent. It is not thoughtful. It is not prudent. This bill would have us move nuclear waste not just once, but twice. This bill will require nuclear waste to travel thousands of miles on our highways and railroads, through our neighborhoods, past our homes, down our streets. And in a few years, we may well do it all over again. Why? Because we do not know if Yucca Mountain is safe. Mr. Speaker, nuclear waste does not just go away. The poison will be around for thousands of years. Our children and unborn generations will live with the nuclear waste we have created with the threat of leukemia, cancer, and a slow, agonizing death. So when we store nuclear waste, let us take our time and do it right. Do it right. We should not rush to send these poisons through our neighborhoods, down our roads, down our railroads, into our streets and into our neighborhoods. Mr. Speaker, let us slow down. Think of our children. Think of unborn generations, and defeat this ill-conceived and dangerous bill. I urge my colleagues to defeat the rule.”