Political Quotes

“obviously, I care very passionately about Medicare and about health care, and I believe strongly that this is a fundamental right of every American. We do not decide when we are going to get sick. We do not decide when our children are going to get sick or what is going to happen to us as it relates to our health. But another important part of health relates to the ability to have clean, drinkable water. The Clean Water Act has been a vital tool for promoting the health and livelihood--the economy--of Americans for the past 40 years. In fact, according to the EPA, the Clean Water Act has kept tens of billions of pounds of sewage and chemicals and trash out of our waterways. It has helped double the number of American waters that meet standards for fishing and swimming. I can tell you that in Michigan, we love the Great Lakes. They are in our DNA. The ability to fish, the ability to swim--in fact, we have a $7 billion fishing industry, in which my family has been a proud participant, and a $16 billion recreational boating industry. The jobs of more than 800,000 residents are supported by the economic asset of our Great Lakes, and we want to make sure the Clean Water Act is strong. Now, we also are very proud of agriculture in Michigan. We have more diversity of crops than any other State in the country other than California. We are working on that. So we are able to do that, in part, because of the abundance of water, frankly.…”