Political Quotes

“I was a city councilman when Federal revenue sharing funds were cut out. The biggest issue we faced back then was upgrading the Bay St. Louis sewage treatment plant. Had it not been for Federal mandate, that all-Democratic board would never have voted to clean up our city's wastewater treatment. It is just that simple. The citizens do not see the reward. The problem is passed downstream. It is just not fair that my city should poison any other city's drinking water, and it is just not fair that some other city like New York should poison New Jersey and that Connecticut should poison the folks downstream from them. Chicago's drinking water ends up in the Mississippi River. It goes to Natchez, it goes to New Orleans, and when the spillway is open, it flows in front of my house. I have made what I think is a reasonable request of the chairman of this committee, to see to it that when the Clean Water Act is finally reauthorized, because it has not been reauthorized, that this somehow does not be considered a new mandate, and because Federal funds are going to be cut, and they will be cut when we pass the balanced budget amendment, that the provisions of the bill that say when we cut back on Federal fundings, that the locals no longer have to abide by the law, do not apply to this law, because this is the kind of law that we need to keep on the books.”