Political Quotes

“Madam President, it is a very straightforward Land and Water Conservation Fund amendment. We have common agreement on the Land and Water Conservation Fund--what it does, what it funds, how it is funded. Where we have some dispute is in whether we are we taking care of the land that we have. We continue to add more acres into the Federal inventory, and we are not taking care of them. The original plan of the Land and Water Conservation Fund is that someday, out of general budget, we will do maintenance on this, but let's keep adding land. We have all known for decades that has not worked. For decades we have added more land, and for decades we are not maintaining it. The easiest way to identify this amendment is this: This amendment is about not only purchasing land but taking care of the land that we actually purchased. It splits half and half--half for the purchase of land and half for the maintenance. My daughter's birthday is today. She is 16. She will get a car--an old used car--at some point. But the requirement for her is to not only help pay for the car but to actually have enough in her bank account that she can help maintain it and buy gasoline for it. She has to have a job so she can have income. We have set aside the Land and Water Conservation Fund to continually get more land but not be able to maintain it. We wouldn't do that with our children. We wouldn't do that with our homes. But we have done it year after year with this. Let's do something simple.…”