Political Quotes

“I, too, have been concerned that our Republican colleagues in the leadership have been pursuing an environmental agenda that I think is very much out of sync with what is practiced by most of the American public, the views and attitudes. But the irony is that their limited approach in cutting off debate and not allowing a full range of options to be discussed, actually, they have denied a majority of the House an opportunity to be heard and move important protective legislation forward. I think it is sad, because I know that there are some of our friends on the other side of the aisle who feel uncomfortable with these environmental initiatives. There is a majority of the House, when we get clean votes for air quality, when we get clean votes for clean water, more often than not the majority will of the House is such that it is in keeping with what the majority will of the American public is in terms of its environmental ethic. But, sadly, we are not permitted to have these straight up or down votes and this full and honest debate.”