Political Quotes

“first of all, the amendment is nothing more than an attempt by the Democrats to congressionally legitimize those actions taken by President Clinton during the last hours, without adequate public input, in the dead of night. These proclamations, of course, clearly abused the letter and the spirit of the Antiquities Act of 1906, when they knew what they were doing. The Antiquities Act, among other things, mandates that when a President declares a monument it ``shall be confined to the smallest area available, compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.'' Now, I know that that means we must question ourselves as to what we mean by objects or what we might mean by protected. However, as we all know, President Clinton blatantly used this act solely for political purposes like no other before him. Mr. Chairman, passing this amendment would in effect put a congressional rubber stamp on those actions and those boundaries taken by these ill-considered proclamations. Secondly, if the boundaries of the national monuments do change, this amendment to the bill today is totally unnecessary.”