Political Quotes

“this last week the Conference on the Energy and Water Development Appropriations concluded and has provided $21,332,135 for the programs, projects and activities of the Department of Energy, Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, and other independent agencies. I would like to say that I generally support the Conference Report which Chairman Domenici recommend to the Senate today. Just as a balanced bill cannot accommodate all the priorities and projects of Members of Congress, neither could this conference report. Nevertheless, it is because of the scope of this bill, providing vital services of the Department of Energy and the many water projects around the nation that the Senate needs to support the Conference Report. For instance, the Department of Energy's breadth of responsibilities range from activities in nonproliferation to fissile materials disposition and from the projects in solar and renewable resources to the clean up of defense facilities such as Savannah River, Oak Ridge and Hanford. Specifically, in the Defense part of the bill, we were told that the Stockpile Stewardship Management, the program that provides safety and reliability of the nuclear stockpile, needed $4.5 billion, yet even as we are providing it $4.4 billion we are increasing our oversight of construction projects to prevent waste and mismanagement.”