Political Quotes

“I wanted to just respond very briefly to two points of the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee. What he describes with the notion of this being a misdemeanor is part of the catch-22 that some of the people in this Congress who are fronting for the illegal fighting animal activities have produced for us. When we had an amendment on the floor that was approved in the farm bill last year, it was to increase the penalties so that it would be easier to pursue. But, sadly, in conference, contrary to the will of the House, these provisions were watered down. So now we can plead, well, it is only a misdemeanor so we should not be involved with it. The fact is, as I mentioned in my statement, 55 local jurisdictions and State jurisdictions in law enforcement have asked us to come forward, because while these provisions may be misdemeanors, they are tied up in a network of illegal activity that breeds violence, drug, and other activities and is serious. It is not just animal cruelty, if somebody wants to dismiss that. Second, the gentleman's argument that we cannot afford it I think is a false economy. First of all, I am taking from an account that they have already significantly reduced. It is an area that would already have $156 million. We are only speaking of one-half of 1 percent, but the $800,000 here has the opportunity to prevent vast losses to the Federal Government.”