Political Quotes

“We take great pride in the American military, trained fighting force. We work hard to make sure they are properly equipped, but decades of military training has left dangerous explosives and harmful chemicals on millions of acres of United States land. This contaminated real estate now serves as housing, schools, parks and playgrounds in every congressional district in the country. In fact, you may have read in the morning paper down at what is called The Yards near Nationals stadium, the development that is being done there, they discovered a thousand-pound bomb less than 1 kilometer from where we're debating today. To help the Department of Defense become a better partner for our communities and our constituents, I strongly urge that my colleagues support an amendment that would preserve the Department of Defense efforts to employ skilled labor and high-tech companies to clean up these dangerous liabilities and create economic development opportunities on these dangerous properties. Congress established the Defense Environmental Restoration Program- Formerly Used Defense Site Program, DERP-FUDS, in 1986 to remove hazardous material from former Department of Defense properties and allow for safe reuse. Over two decades later, 2,600 properties nationwide require cleanup at an estimated cost of over $18 billion; and I will tell you, my colleagues, after having worked in this area for over a dozen years, that probably understates it.…”