On the recordDecember 9, 2016
Well, I just consulted with my staff. I know you believe in this or you wouldn't have said it, but the administration cannot be opposed to this. As a matter of fact, the administration drafted this. Everyone liked the underlying bill before the change was made, but then the Department of--and I will repeat this. ``Section 4012 includes a savings clause--a savings clause written by the U.S. Department of Interior and Commerce''--that is the White House--``that ensures that the entire subtitle must be implemented in accordance with the Endangered Species Act, or the smelt and salmon biological opinions.'' So I would just say, in response, they are the ones who drafted that. Here is a bill that everybody talked about--my friend from California and myself included and more than half the people. Then, when that provision was put in by those two departments, all of a sudden it is a bad bill. That is what I don't understand and I don't agree with. They are very emphatic in their paper that they wrote, with their opinions, putting this provision in. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
