David Thomas: “I will discuss a subject other than what is before the Senate, but before I do that I am pleased we are moving forward…”

“I will discuss a subject other than what is before the Senate, but before I do that I am pleased we are moving forward with the highway bill. I am on both committees, the Environment and Public Works Committee, as well as the Finance Committee, and we have spent a great deal of time on this. Taking care of our infrastructure and seeking to provide more jobs in a short period of time is one of the most important issues we have. I certainly hope we can move forward and do so quickly. Today I will comment on an issue in which I have been very interested, and as a matter of fact, I have a bill pending regarding the Endangered Species Act. I suppose most everyone favors the idea of protecting endangered species. That is something we all like to do. However, it has been in place now for more than 20 years, and frankly it has a different impact in different parts of the country. I come from a State where 50 percent of the State belongs to the Federal Government. We have a lot of conflicting issues, both with the Federal Government and with the State government. It becomes quite difficult from time to time. Like many programs that are in place, I wish, when we pass them, we would say it has to be reviewed again in another 8 or 9 years to see if it is working and make necessary changes. This program needs some changes. It has not worked the way we would like to have seen it work.”