Maurice Hinchey: “The American Heritage Rivers program is one of the proud initiatives of the Clinton administration. I think that as the…”

“The American Heritage Rivers program is one of the proud initiatives of the Clinton administration. I think that as the years go by, it will be increasingly recognized as such. A decade from now, indeed, 100 years from now, people will recognize that the American Heritage Rivers initiative coming from the Clinton administration was one of the important environmental initiatives, among many, that the Clinton administration has been responsible for. I am very proud to be a supporter of that initiative, and I am also very proud that New York contains two of the rivers that have been designated in this initiative, the Hudson River and the Upper Susquehanna, Lackawanna Rivers. I want to say also with regard to the amendment that just passed, although it is an amendment that does absolutely no harm, it is also an amendment that was, in fact, unnecessary, because as a result of the cooperation of the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Skeen), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Agriculture of the Committee on Appropriations, we were able to place language in the bill which removed any ambiguity whatsoever with regard to the Department of Agriculture's ability to fund the Upper Susquehanna and Lackawanna River and the Hudson River American Heritage Rivers.”