Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I want to commend my colleague on the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Johnson, for the leadership that he has exercised here in bringing this discussion forward on a bill that is very disappointing to me. This bill imposes hard-and-fast deadlines that will be unrealistic in certain circumstances and would undercut responsible decisionmaking and public involvement in the Federal review and permitting processes. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 2641 for various reasons. Let's begin with the very misleading short title of this bill, namely, the ``Responsibly and Professionally Invigorating Development Act.'' Rather than effectuating real reforms to the process by which federal agencies undertake environmental impact reviews as required by the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, this legislation will actually result in making this process less responsible, less professional, and less accountable. Worse yet, this measure could jeopardize public health and safety by prioritizing project approval over meaningful analysis. To begin with, the bill--under the guise of streamlining the approval process--forecloses potentially critical input from federal, state, and local agencies as well as from members of the public to comment on environmentally-sensitive construction projects that are federally- funded or that require federal approval. The bill also imposes hard and fast deadlines that may be unrealistic under certain circumstances.…”