Political Quotes

“I ask Members of the Chamber to think how they would feel if they represented California and the Federal Government said that the drinking supply crosses the Federal highway and goes into San Francisco, and we are going to cut off the water for San Francisco. I do not think any reasonable person in this Chamber would think that made sense. How would they feel if they represented New York City and the Federal Government said, ``Your water line crosses over a Federal property and naval base that the Federal Government owns, and as a condition of being able to continue to cross that ground, we are going to take a third of your drinking water''? I do not think there is a Member of this Chamber who would think that made sense. That is literally what we face here. We face a bureaucrat at the regional forestry level that has made up their own law and provided conditions that the statute does not call for. The only way we can deal with it is to make this very clear that this clarifies existing law. It does not change it. Mr. President, it is essential that we do this. Without it, our cities face literally millions of dollars of attorneys' fees, long, dragged-out court cases. What we see is a real danger to solid, reliable municipal planning.”