Political Quotes

“I rise today to thank my Senate colleagues. Yesterday, we passed a reauthorization of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Act. That is very significant for my State of Louisiana, particularly southeast Louisiana. Today I expect that package will be similarly approved by the U.S. House and passed into law to fully reauthorize this important restoration program. In a minute I will get into why it is important and positive and noteworthy. Let me mention in passing its significance to me. It happened to be the first bill I ever passed in Congress. I came to the U.S. House in a special election in 1999, and very soon after that we passed into law in my freshman term this legislation in 2001. More important, it has been a very positive, productive program cleaning up a big part of Louisiana and parts of Mississippi. The Lake Pontchartrain Basin is about 16 parishes in Louisiana, four counties in Mississippi and southeast Louisiana. Lake Pontchartrain and the areas surrounding Lake Pontchartrain are the most populated part of our State--at least 1.5 million residents. When I was a kid, unfortunately Lake Pontchartrain had come into a sad state and was visibly dirty. Nobody would have thought of swimming there at the time. Soon after that, however, a positive grassroots effort started to clean up the lake. It wasn't some big government program, it wasn't some edict from the EPA or anyone else. It was a grassroots citizens effort.…”