Political Quotes

“my amendment simply keeps the promise of the House that there shall be no unfunded mandates. I do not believe that there is any Member of this House who would take exception to this amendment. The bill itself represents a broken promise: No congressional mandates on Federal buildings without local consent. All I am asking is that we do not add cost to injury by adding cost to the operating budget of the Washington Regional Airport Authority. The authority that runs the airport consists of four jurisdictions. This authority has not given its consent to this renaming or to accepting the cost. Two of the Members are from Maryland, five are from Virginia, three are from the District of Columbia, and three are Federal appointees. My amendment simply requires that funds outside the operating budget be obtained to carry out any renaming. Now, those who are for the renaming ought to be the first to vote for this amendment; that is, if they have read the Supreme Court decisions which have interpreted the language to mean that the Congress cannot, in fact, impose its will on any issue at this time. At the very least, when this matter goes to court, and I predict that it will, Congress will be able to say that it did not add to the operating costs. And that is important also to protect the financial position of the regional authority.”