Political Quotes

“I support the amendment. I want to say to my friend from the great State of Michigan that this is obviously an issue that is close to both of our hearts. I want to go back. When I was first elected a few years ago, one of the first bills that I saw enacted into law was an oil spill response team for the Great Lakes. It was actually a visit, I think, now to your district, Bay City, back then, which had a fairly significant oil spill. We found out that the Coast Guard was totally unprepared. My amendment was added, I want to say, to a highway bill to get it done. When we had the oil spill on the Kalamazoo River in Calhoun County a few years ago, we looked at that. We actually passed the Upton- Dingell--not the Debbie Dingell, but the John Dingell--bill on pipeline safety, which I want to say passed this body with more than 400 votes. It did a lot of good things, including one that was very important, which was, when there is an oil spill, it had to be reported to PHMSA within an hour versus on a timely basis. That was a big change. Now that we expect the passage tomorrow of the highway bill, Chairman Shuster and myself will be working again to reauthorize the pipeline safety bill. I am led to believe that we will be prepared to start early next year to bring a bill to the floor. I look forward to your support. {time} 1645 Anything that we can do to improve the current system is a good thing, which is why I strongly support your amendment today. Mr.…”