Political Quotes

“There has been consideration given to that. But, I would say to my friend from Nebraska, that I think, as I have indicated, we now have 243 species that have already been listed and we have 182 candidate species. I do not really think that should be the role of Congress, to vote on each of those. We could spend a lot of time that should be spent in the agencies of government, both Federal and State. Of all of the numerous special interest groups I have listened to--homebuilders and contractors, labor unions, environmental groups--I do not think anyone has suggested we should vote on each one of those. I think they all suggest that the process should be more deliberative in nature and allow more input from the private sector, not because the Federal agencies have done anything wrong in listing the endangered species, but the purpose is to allow State governments and the local entities to feel better about the listing, so they understand it better.”