Political Quotes

“during my tenure in Congress, I have worked hard for the Federal Government to be a better partner to promote the liveability of our communities by walking the walk, by acting the way that we are asking the rest of America to behave. Yet, here today, we are going to be asking in the supplemental to exempt the Defense Department, the largest manager of infrastructure in the world, from being a good environmental citizen. This bill contains an amendment that would relieve the Department of Defense from its responsibility for dealing with water consumption that occurs outside the control of the Secretary of Defense that is a direct result of the military installation. In particular, this is focused on the San Pedro River in Arizona, one of the richest biological reserves in all of North America. It has over 82 species of mammals, 385 species of birds, and was designated by this Congress as a National Riparian Conservation Area in 1988. But as a result of this amendment, snuck in without debate by the substantive committee, that will not be substantively argued on this floor, we are going to basically give them a free hand to damage the environment. It is wrong.”