Political Quotes

“this is an amendment which addresses the question of grazing on public land. If you followed the debate on the Department of Interior appropriations bill over the last few days, and the weeks when we were in session before our August recess, you would see that we have an issue primarily between the Republican side of the aisle and the Democratic side of the aisle, a question of stewardship of public land. In virtually every amendment offered from the Democratic side there has been an attempt to make certain that the public lands are protected, that the value of the public lands are protected, and that America's taxpayers, who in fact own these public lands, are not shortchanged by those who would come in and use them. Consistently on the other side the position has been, if someone wants to take the land of America, the land belonging to all Americans, our public land, and use it for grazing, drilling, mining, or logging, that there should be few or any restrictions and, second, that they should not pay an extraordinary amount of money for the privilege of taking profit off our public land. This has been a clash of philosophy that has been visited on every single amendment in one form or another. It is a clear difference of opinion, primarily between the Republican side of the aisle and the Democratic side of the aisle.”