Political Quotes

“one of the many proposals floating around these days is the idea of eliminating the so-called nontraditional defense spending, which includes items such as the environmental cleanup of military bases. This is not only bad policy, but it is irresponsible. It will create not an unfunded mandate as much as an ``unfunded liability.'' As DOD closes numerous bases throughout the Nation, one of the biggest challenges that they face is how to transfer land to the local communities in the same condition in which they received it. However, environmental conditions on many of these facilities are abominable, and it will get worse if we put off cleanup for some unspecified date in the future. What is needed is more not less attention to the environmental concerns on these bases. Gutting the funds for these programs sends the wrong message to our local communities. If this happens, local governments will be forced to pick up the tab for fixing a disaster that they had no part in creating in the first place. Mr. Speaker, this is not the time to run away from our obligations. Instead, the Department of Defense should live up to their responsibility to clean up after themselves. By maintaining funding for ``nontraditional'' defense spending, this Congress can stand by our commitment to make our government more accountable to the people it serves, and that is the right thing to do in my book.”