Political Quotes

“let me say that it is an honor and a privilege and a joy to work on this subcommittee with the gentleman from Alabama (Chairman Callahan) and also the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky), our ranking minority member. I appreciate their hard work and cooperation in producing this bipartisan piece of legislation. I particularly want to thank the gentleman from Alabama (Chairman Callahan) for crafting a bill which recognizes the benefits of making needed investments today in order to save money tomorrow. Let me just give the committee two examples of this. One excellent example is the substantial increase in funding for the environmental management cleanup activities at our Nation's nuclear laboratories and facilities. H.R. 2311 provides over $7 billion for the purpose of this cleanup. This is an increase of over a quarter of $1 billion over last year's amount. This increase will allow cleanup timetables to stay on schedule and save unnecessary future costs. I am also pleased that this bill reflects the importance of our Nation's water infrastructure. Mr. Chairman, our Nation's waters do not recognize State lines as we all know. Over 40 percent of the Nation's water flows by the borders of my home State of Mississippi. Flood control and maintaining navigable waterways are national issues. By making the necessary investments in these activities, we will avoid the greater cost in the future that we would have if we were not having the proposed spending today.”