Political Quotes

“I am here to speak in favor of the entire appropriations legislation that is before us, but particularly the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill. I thank Senator Mikulski for her leadership, and all of the members of that subcommittee who have worked on this portion of the appropriations legislation before us. Given the current financial constraints we are facing, I know this has been an especially difficult time to be trying to address the needs in the critical areas of our Federal budget, particularly with respect to Commerce, Science, and Justice, but I am here to speak to the section of the bill that deals with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. I am here on behalf of New Hampshire, because we have a particular interest in this section of the legislation because it directs the Bureau of Prisons to activate three Federal prisons which are currently built but are not yet opened. One of those prisons is in Berlin, NH, in the northernmost part of our State. I came to the floor last spring when we were debating the 2011 continuing resolution to talk about this issue of opening the Berlin prison because it was completed and not yet opened. The prison is a medium-security prison. It was completed last November at a cost of $276 million. Since November, when the project was completed, it has been costing us $4 million to maintain security at the prison to make sure that damage is not done to this new facility.…”