Political Quotes

“I would be all for taking the backlog of funding and putting it into LWCF. I think my colleague raises some real reforms that could be made to LWCF. In fact, there is legislation in the comprehensive energy bill that Senators Murkowski and Cantwell have passed that would make some of those reforms. But if we can't get to that, if we can't extend this program in the short term, we are never going to get to that point. The fact is that the backlog of maintenance needs should be addressed. But it does not make sense for us to suspend the program while we address those needs. LWCF was not established for maintenance purposes. It was established to protect natural areas and to provide recreation opportunities to the American public. When I went to the city of Nashua, the second largest city in New Hampshire, and walked with the Republican mayor along the Riverwalk that they are trying to establish there, what I heard from her was what a critical difference LWCF made to the city and being able to leverage funds that the city put in and that the State could put in to help make sure that the people of Nashua, many of whom cannot get to national parks or to the White Mountains in New Hampshire but they could get to the Riverwalk through downtown Nashua. Those are the kinds of projects that LWCF goes to help fund.…”