Political Quotes

“Let me explain why I object, as I have explained very openly, very clearly every step of the way. Michael Walsh is one of the top nine officers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He is part of the key leadership. Senator Dorgan is a fierce, active, vocal defender of that bureaucracy, but before he continues and plunges into that fierce and vocal defense, I suggest he step back for just a minute and truly think about and understand what he is defending. Before he accepts every suggestion, every argument of the Corps of Engineers' bureaucracy, I suggest he step back and look at the history of the corps and look at the source he is accepting as gospel truth. Senator Dorgan mentioned Hurricane Katrina, called it a great natural disaster. It was a great natural disaster, a horrible natural disaster. It was also a horrible manmade disaster because if we want to talk about the greatest damage--not the only damage but the greatest damage--inflicted upon the country from Hurricane Katrina--the flooding of the city of New Orleans--that was manmade by the Corps of Engineers. That was due directly to the design flaws of the outfall canals in New Orleans by the Corps of Engineers. The Corps of Engineers has admitted this, and we have laid that out in congressional testimony since Katrina. The problem is, no one in that bureaucracy has ever been held accountable for that. I don't want to focus on looking back.…”