Political Quotes

“I am a cosponsor of the substitute to S. 267 offered by Senator Stevens, and I rise to express support for the amendment. Before proceeding to discuss the substitute, I want to offer my sincere thanks to the chairman of the Commerce Committee, Senator Pressler, and the chairman of the Oceans and Fisheries Subcommittee, Senator Stevens, for their assistance to me throughout the process of considering S. 267. Early on, I expressed an interest in offering an amendment to the bill, and the two chairmen and their staffs always showed a willingness to help me as a freshman member of the committee. S. 267 is the first fisheries bill considered by the Commerce Committee in the 104th Congress, and the leadership and skillfulness that the Senators demonstrated in this effort deserves to be commended. Mr. President, the substitute includes an amendment that I sponsored which is designed to protect two of the few remaining healthy fish stocks in U.S. waters--Atlantic herring and Atlantic mackerel--from foreign fishing pressures. I consider this amendment and the issues that it addresses to be very important for the health of our domestic fishing industry as well as our domestic fish stocks. As media stories over the last year have reported, the New England groundfish fishery is now experiencing the most serious crisis in its long history. Groundfish stocks in the region have dwindled to record lows, threatening the future viability of this essential resource.”