Political Quotes

“it is interesting this week that there is a proposal from the administration brought forward to exempt the Department of Defense from a series of environmental regulations. Mr. Speaker, as somebody who has been working for the last 4 years to help the Department of Defense have the resources to clean up after itself with unexploded ordnance that is found in all 50 States, the UXO problem, slowly we are making progress, but it is a problem that Congress has not been providing clear direction to the Department of Defense or resources to clean up after itself. Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely the wrong message for us to be delivering to the Department of Defense at this point. What we ought to be doing, rather than providing short circuits for environmental protection, we ought to step up to the plate. Congress should not be missing in action when it comes to take care of the legacy of past military actions within our own borders, provide authority, provide money to help make sure that these sites are cleaned up and that our families are safe and healthy in bases and training areas around the United States. I do hope that we are able to divert this action going down the wrong way, giving the military the wrong orders. When we give them the resources, the right orders, they do the job. We should do that when it comes to protecting our environment.”