Political Quotes

“since late in 1993, State and local government officials have trumpeted a call for Congress to enact legislation to curb the imposition of so-called unfunded mandates on State and local governments, and to ensure that Federal taxpayer funds pay the costs of complying with such mandates, both large and small. It is worth reviewing some history and some examples. In the 1970's, there was a considerable public outcry by buyers of used motor vehicles that odometer readings, which consumers use as an index of the condition and value of the car, did not reflect the true mileage. Unscrupulous sellers often turned the odometer back by thousands of miles and States did not uniformly police this fraud. Under the commerce clause of the Constitution, the Congress enacted odometer fraud legislation that imposed duties on the States in the transfer of vehicle titles. Most States complied immediately, though California only recently complied. But all recognized that there was a national need the States were not filing. Similarly, in the late sixties and early seventies, the public was outraged by oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico and Santa Barbara, CA, and by the pollution of our great and small waterways, such as the Great Lakes, the Hudson, the Potomac, the Mississippi, and many more. One waterway in Ohio caught fire from pollution. Again, it was recognized that this was an interstate problem.”