Political Quotes

“I have the voting record from February 16. I know the gentleman will recall H.R. 1 and the debate that ensued. In H.R. 1, the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund was zeroed out, and so I had an amendment to restore $50 million to the North American Wetlands Conservation Program. What I find curious-- confusing--is that the very gentleman that now wants to put money into the program voted ``no'' against putting the $50 million into the North American Wetlands Conservation Program back in the spring. Now, I do think it's an important program. I would like to see it continued. But I do have a problem with the fact that what we're doing when we want something to be funded, we take it out of the management of agencies--$3 million, $5 million, $6 billion--and when these amendments pass, you have a very damaging cumulative effect upon the ability of the agency to banish these programs. If this were to pass, we're now at $8 million that has been taken out of the management of EPA. So I would have to oppose the amendment. And I'm not sure how strongly the gentleman feels about it since he voted against restoring the money in February, as did a great many Members of the body, unfortunately, because it is a good program. I yield back the balance of my time. {time} 2140”