Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chair, I rise today in opposition to this bill and the other two natural resources bills that we will be considering this week. Let me start by saying that it is unfortunate that we are in this position today. One of the predominant reasons for this disappointment is that I, like many of my colleagues, both support energy development, while looking after our natural and ecological resources. I love my district dearly. I was born and raised there. I have lived there all of my life and will continue to live there the rest of my life. I value the beautiful coastline that we have in my district. But blanket bans instituted by these bills across the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf, and Arctic are misguided and are, quite plainly, the wrong approach. In January of last year, I raised concerns with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management about how this plan would affect Georgia and my constituents. In April of this year, after the Georgia General Assembly passed a resolution opposing energy exploration in Federal waters off of Georgia, I sent a letter to Secretary Bernhardt requesting he exclude Georgia from consideration under this plan. Mr. Chair, I have taken public service seriously for my entire life. When I was elected to serve the people of the First District of Georgia, I knew that I would be representing the will of my constituents up here.…”