Political Quotes

“I want to start off, Mr. Chairman, by letting everyone know how much I think of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran). He is a good friend of mine. I suppose, in the final analysis, he has added a marginal benefit to the bill. What he has done is say that the government, that is, the Federal system and the States, should not be caught by the strictures of this bill, and we should allow them to move forward and be able to bring lawsuits in some range not encumbered by the limitations that we are placing on everybody else. In other words, a citizen or private environmental groups are not affected by the Moran Amendment. The governments are going to be given an exclusion, Federal and State, but not individual citizens and environmental suits. That is what we are trying to do in the environmental sector of improving our society. We are trying to encourage citizens and environmental organizations which are not within the purview of this bill. For example, the bill would continue to wipe out incentives for private citizens to enforce environmental laws by bringing private and whistleblower acts under the Clean Water Act.”