Angie Craig: “I stand on the floor today to speak against the Reid-Bryan amendment as it relates to Governors' authority on…”

“I stand on the floor today to speak against the Reid-Bryan amendment as it relates to Governors' authority on transportation of materials through their States. My colleague from Nevada, who is not only a U.S. Senator but a former Governor of that State, just said something that I found fascinating in the context of this legislation or this amendment. In a dialog with his colleague, the other Senator from Nevada, he suggested that with all of the safeguards and the protections put in, couldn't you go to a Governor and logically argue with him and, therefore, convince him to just sign off, Governor? My guess is that as a former Governor of the State of Nevada or a Governor today in Nevada, with all these safeguards, he wouldn't sign off--not because of the science, not because of the engineering, but because of the politics. Plain and simple politics is what is dictating the argument on the floor today--not science, not engineering, not the facts. So, sign off, Governor. Just sign off, and everything will be fine. And the Governor looks over his back shoulder, he looks at the polls, and he sees that the citizens of his State do not want nuclear waste stored in their State no matter how good the science, no matter how good the engineering, no matter how good the record, no matter how good the history of that record. What does he do? Is he the statesman that he should be? Not at all. He is the politician that he is.”