Chellie Pingree: “I thank Ranking Member Lowey for yielding me the time. Madam Chair, I rise today as a member of the subcommittee in…”

“I thank Ranking Member Lowey for yielding me the time. Madam Chair, I rise today as a member of the subcommittee in reluctant opposition to the bill before us. I want to thank the ranking member and the chairman for their hard work on this bill. I know that, in a truly bipartisan fashion, there has been an effort to address many issues that are important to me and to other Members. For example, I appreciate that the committee has come together to fund a National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities at strong levels that will help support our local economies and protect important cultural institutions. But the truth of the matter is that we will be voting on numerous amendments tonight that will add poison pill riders to the bill. They will gut our environmental protections and act as a straightforward assault on our country's air, water, and Federal lands. The fact that so many of these harmful amendments were made in order by the Rules Committee is a telling statement of misplaced priorities. But even more telling are the amendments that were not made in order. None of the amendments to protect our oceans was made in order. Not one of the 10 amendments offered to prevent the devastation of our oceans due to oil and gas drilling off our coasts was made in order. We had Members from both sides of the aisle offering these amendments.…”