Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of an amendment which I am offering with Representatives Sensenbrenner and Ribble of Wisconsin. I believe this amendment represents a simple, commonsense change to an otherwise excellent bill. I thank Chairman Latham and his staff for their hard work in getting us here today. Mr. Chairman, current Federal law prohibits Federal agencies from lobbying Congress in support of or against legislation. Thanks to Representative Sensenbrenner's past leadership, Congress passed similar antilobbying language to prohibit the Department of Transportation from lobbying State and local officials in 1998. In 1997, the Government Accountability Office released a report on activities undertaken by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, NHTSA, to allow the State legislators to enact State motorcycle helmet laws or discourage the repeal of existing State laws. At the cost of tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars, NHTSA officials traveled across the country to testify before State legislative committees, participated in conferences, and produced videotapes and other printed materials all towards the goal of weakening State laws requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets. NHTSA has an appropriate role to play in developing programs that prevent accidents, but Congress has made it clear they should not be in the business of lobbying State legislatures.…”