Brandon Williams: “My colleagues, those of you new here who do not know me, I am from Montana, and this takings issue is big-time stuff out…”

“My colleagues, those of you new here who do not know me, I am from Montana, and this takings issue is big-time stuff out my way. But if the gentleman in the well is right, and nobody on the floor now has more experience at this than the gentleman in the well, and I have not known him to be wrong since I have been here, then those of us who are concerned about takings ought to listen very closely, because the legacy that the sponsors of the bill may carry around for a long time is one of bureaucracy, legal obfuscation and delay and enormous cost to the taxpayer if the gentleman in the well is correct. I have a feeling that the sponsors of this bill and the good sponsor of the amendment, the main amendment, although well-intentioned in trying to reach a position that many of us like myself from the West would find comfort in having in fact began to move legislation that will create the enormous problems that the gentleman in the well describes. We should be very careful.”