Political Quotes

“As always, I appreciate the hard work the chairman and his staff put into drafting this annual appropriations bill. They have done an excellent job in pulling this bill together and I appreciate the cooperative manner with which he and his staff have worked with my staff. I also appreciate the consideration he has provided to the requests of all Members. This subcommittee received over 1,000 requests from Members this year and majority and minority staff have combed through all of them. As always, we are not able to accommodate as many of them as we would like, and, frankly, not even as many as we need to. There are a great many things to like in this bill: Solid funding for the programs to keep our nation's nuclear arsenal safe and secure. Strong Army Corps and Bureau of Reclamation funding for work already underway. First time funding for the Delta Regional Commission. Also, for the first time in many years, the bill contains nearly full funding for the Solar and Renewable Energy programs. I want to thank the Chairman of the Subcommittee, Mr. Domenici, for working with me to send some more resources to renewables. We received a bipartisan letter, signed by 56 of our colleagues, requesting full funding for the Solar and Renewable accounts in this bill. I am delighted to report that we have come very close to doing so. I believe that the Solar and Renewables programs are essential to our nation's long-term energy security and appreciate your consideration.”