Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I stand in opposition to the amendment. We have to reward collaboration and working together. What this bill does not do is discourage NEPA. What it does do, though, is it brings people together to work together. That is what I was sent to Washington, D.C., to do; and that is what all of us were sent to do, is work together and move the ball up the field. It does not prevent anyone from filing a lawsuit. What it does do, however, on frivolous lawsuits--and the numbers are clear. Between 1989 and 2008, over 1,125 lawsuits were submitted. Almost in every case, those lawsuits ended up costing the Forest Service that we are so concerned about the money they are spending-- number one is forest fires; number two is litigation. We want the same thing. We want more scientists, less lawyers in the woods, and healthy forests once again to be part of our country; yet what happens is the collaborative effort--and we made the definition of collaborative very vague so everyone can participate, everybody--it does not prevent anyone from suing. What it does do is, if you are not going to be involved in the collaborative effort, if you are not going to spend the time and the resources, then you have to post a bond, and that bond only covers what the Forest Service would have to defend. We could have made it a lot aggressive, and we didn't. Mr. Chairman, I stand in opposition.”