Political Quotes

“Madam President, we have a couple of votes coming up that are very significant, and the occupier of the chair is fully aware of it, having served on the committee that has worked on this legislation. I have to say one thing about the stuff we crank out of our Environment and Public Works Committee, and that is that it has been pretty significant. We had the FAST Act, the first highway reauthorization bill in 17 years, which was a major one. Then we did the chemical bill, which was great, and now we are going to do the WRDA bill. One of the things that is interesting about it is the number of ports we are talking about. I often prided Tulsa as being the most inland port; however, it could conceivably be that Omaha may be giving us competition. Nonetheless, it gives you an idea of the significance of this legislation. Yesterday I talked about what would happen if this legislation doesn't become a law this year. If that happens, 29 navigation, flood control, and environmental restoration projects will not happen. There will be no new Corps reforms to let sponsors improve infrastructure at their own expense. There will be no FEMA assistance to States to rehabilitate unsafe dams. There will be no reforms to help communities address clean and safe drinking water infrastructures, which is a serious problem in my State of Oklahoma. There will be no deal on the coal ash, which has plagued the coal utilities for years with lawsuits.…”