Political Quotes

“I think we both recognize the importance of this amendment. My congressional district, I think we kind of represent God's country. I represent about 200 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline. I don't think I want to get into an argument with my colleague from Michigan as to how much shoreline he represents from the Great Lakes, but it is well in excess of that number. But we both have recognized that the current Corps guidelines present a distinct hardship to our communities, many of the communities along the Great Lakes. We don't meet the newest guidelines that establish the roughly 1 million tons or whatever of cargo that need to flow through a harbor. And this is a change in the Corps' position. For the last 14 years that my colleague and I have been in Congress, the Corps has done a very, very good job and recognized its responsibility for taking care of these small and medium-sized harbors which they classify as recreational harbors. But they are much more than recreational harbors. For many of our communities they do, we do transfer cargo through these ports, but the harbors form the economic development zone for these communities. And if the harbors and the channels are not dredged, this economic lifeline goes away.”