Earl Blumenauer: “it is my intention not to unduly delay this effort. I will withdraw this amendment at the end, but I want to finish the…”

“it is my intention not to unduly delay this effort. I will withdraw this amendment at the end, but I want to finish the thought because I deeply appreciate what my colleagues have mentioned referencing the unexploded ordnance issue. I want to agree with what the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr) said, the Department of Defense is making tremendous progress dealing with cleanup of unexploded ordnance. This is a representative sample of the problem. I will tell you that this picture could have been taken at any of dozens of sites around the country. What is most distressing is that we do not know the full extent of all of the unexploded ordnance that is our responsibility. A couple of years ago, I led a tour with my colleague, the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton), to the campus of American University where the toxic residue of World War I was still being cleaned up after three efforts. The child care center was closed down. An athletic field was denied access to athletes, and over the fence, the back yard of the $10 million little bungalow of the Korean ambassador was all dug up because they were trying to complete what they hoped might be the final cleanup of this site within the boundaries of the District of Columbia. There are 2,307 sites around the country were formally used sites. It is true that these amendments, as the chairman says, may take a little money away from the fifth round. It may slow it.…”