Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment offered by our distinguished colleague, the gentleman from Texas. First of all, the American centrifuge project is the only source of domestic enriched uranium--the only source. I think that is important for us to understand America is fighting for its manufacturing future on many fronts, including this one. One needs enriched uranium in order to make tritium. Tritium is essentially for our nuclear weapons complex and enriched uranium is necessary for commercial operations. This single facility is really important because our country is running out of what we would call ``U.S. flag material,'' material that can be used for these distinct purposes. As Chairman Frelinghuysen has said, this program is currently on schedule and within budget. That is in stark contrast to some of the other programs that we've been trying to get control of in our subcommittee. While foreign-owned facilities exist, and there are some in this Chamber who represent those facilities, there is a true need for a domestic supplier. The program in question was proposed by the Department of Energy to meet crucial national security and nonproliferation needs, and DOE has certified completion of two of the five program technical milestones. There are remaining three and they, as the chairman has said, are scheduled for completion in December and are completely on track. This is an important program, I would say an essential program, to our country.…”