Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I rise to speak against an amendment added during committee markup of the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill, the one that we've been talking about, that would prevent the Department of Justice from enforcing regulations regarding access to swimming pools under the ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act. Since passage of the ADA in 1990, Congress has never acted to weaken the ADA's promise of increased opportunity and access for our neighbors, friends, family, and colleagues with disabilities. Today, however, this House is poised to strip the Justice Department of its ability to enforce certain accessibility rules. We are at this unfortunate and unwarranted juncture because of an aggressive advertising and lobbying campaign that misrepresents what the ADA is and what the Department of Justice rules require. Congress should not roll back reasonable, balanced, and negotiated civil rights standards that have long enjoyed bipartisan support based on an alarming misunderstanding and misrepresentation of the ADA and Department of Justice regulations, nor should we override a nearly decade-long regulatory process that began under the administration of President George W. Bush and concluded after extensive public notice and comment by adopting the guidelines that the United States Access Board developed in 2004 during the George W. Bush administration.…”