Political Quotes

“I thank Mr. Newhouse for yielding and for organizing this Special Order. I thank him for presenting to this body this piece of legislation with all the reforms of the Endangered Species Act. It is something that is extremely important. Coming from the State of Missouri, we have folks who come from all over the country to hike our trails and to float our rivers. We are also home to the first Ozark National Scenic Riverway designated by a national State park in southern Missouri. So we have many people who come to southeast and south central Missouri to look at our nature, to see the native plants and the native species, which several of them are designated within the Endangered Species Act. Mr. Newhouse made a comment earlier about only 3 percent of the species come out of the Endangered Species Act, that they come back. By any other measure, that would be a complete failure, and that is why we need these reforms. That is why we need these revisions. Nowhere is the pain of the Endangered Species Act regulations, no greater place are those burdens felt than in local communities, and that is why we have the legislation, the EMPOWERS Act. And it mandates--not mandates the communities, it mandates the Federal Government to make sure that they get local input from communities in any kind of designation for an Endangered Species Act. It is common sense. It is an easy approach. It is something that I think we can all get behind since they know their area better.…”