Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in very strong support of H.R. 3516. This bill would provide authorization necessary to complete the task of protecting the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Battlefield by constructing a highway bypass around the park. I commend the chairman and also the gentleman from Georgia for their diligent efforts in bringing this important ongoing project in the State of Georgia before this body today. We have heard a lot about unfunded mandates and situations in which the Federal Government imposes rules and regulations on States without picking up the cost of the mandates that they pass on to us. This situation is different, however, because when the Federal Government properly ruled, the National Park Service, the highway could not be widened within the park, this would have placed an undue amount of expense on the State and the counties to bring this parkway around this very historic national park. Working with the Committee on the Interior staff several years ago, we worked out a formula of 75 percent Federal and 25 percent State participation so we could assure that the extra cost brought about by the Federal Government's ruling would, in fact, be borne by the Federal Government, with the State participating up to 25 percent.”