Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I thank my colleague and neighbor from South Dakota for authoring and offering this amendment, which I support and urge my colleagues to support. It really re-prioritizes the spending and the good work that the Appropriations Committee has already done just a few million dollars. It re-prioritizes it in a way that recognizes the changing of our Nation in recent years because so much of the policy and the appropriations of our Energy Department are based on an old order that recognizes our country as having a scarcity of natural resources for energy development. That, Mr. Chairman, is no longer the case. We are now a Nation of abundant energy resources, but we are still, especially in the West, a Nation of scarce water resources, water resources that are important to the development of many of our rural communities and our tribes and our farms and ranches, water for drinking, water for industrial growth, water for irrigation. So I think this re-prioritization of a few million dollars is appropriate and recognizes how different our world is. With that, I urge a ``yes'' vote on the amendment, and yield back the remainder of my time. The Acting CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Mrs. Noem). The amendment was agreed to. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will read.…”