Political Quotes

“I want to begin by expressing great respect and affection for my friend from Montana who has just spoken. It was a fine speech, but it has nothing to do with the issues before us. What the committee, in this legislation, has done has been to simply assure that the Corps of Engineers may not put forth guidelines clarifying the law as it was enunciated by the Supreme Court in the case that we are discussing in connection with the Clean Water Act. It does something more. It fixes it so that farmers will lose certain protections which have been put in for their benefit by the law. And you're going to find, as my friend from Maryland has so wisely observed, that you are going to hurt a bunch of American farming public by denying them a protection which has been given them. Citizens, under the language of the committee bill, will have no way of knowing what the law is or how it is interpreted by the committee. It is not an issue before us today whether or not you agree with the Clean Water Act. The question is, simply: Is the Corps of Engineers going to be able to tell people what the law is and how it is to be interpreted by the Corps and how citizens will then have to behave? {time} 1010 Under the law, the amendment simply says the Corps may inform people of what the law, as set forth in the Supreme Court's rulings, means.…”