Political Quotes

“as example of bad procedure, we are asked to consider a bill that nobody in this Chamber knows, those consequences cannot be prophesied, because no hearings have been held. What is this bill going to affect? It is going to affect the clean air laws, going to affect the clean water laws, going to affect the drinking water laws, going to affect every environmental statute, going to affect all the health and welfare statutes of this country. Now, everybody would think that these poor unfortunate State and local governments have not gotten any money from the Federal Government. Look at the amount of money that the Federal Government gives to State and local units of government, something like $750 billion a year. We give them that. Now, what is this going to do? It is going to make it harder to have real meaningful standards on clean air, on drinking water. I sent to my good friend, the gentleman from California, as he knows, a copy of his remarks on the Clean Air Act in which he urged that we pass that legislation. I warned him it went too far. It is the law now. It protects people in one State from the behavior of people in another, and the Drinking Water Act, if you live in New Orleans and somebody flushes the toilet in Minneapolis or Kansas City or in Sioux City or any other place upstream, they are going to enjoy what you had for dinner last night within a matter of a few weeks.”