Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague from California for his remarks. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I want to go back to the issue underlying this, which is wildfires and smoke. When I chaired the Energy and Commerce Committee, I held hearings each year, which have been continued under Chairman Pallone, looking at the health impacts of wildfire smoke on our citizens in America as relates to the Clean Air Act. I remember we had a gentleman from southern Oregon who had sent me a photo of his CPAP, his air-breathing filter, that had turned dark within a day or two. We had county commissioners tell me that when they opened their windows at night, the smoke alarm went off in their house. It was that bad. We continue to have that, and it has been going on for a very long time. It is sad we had to get to this point for many to recognize who don't have to live with that as we all have to. There is so much more we can and should do, and I appreciate Speaker Pelosi's comments about fixing the fire borrowing problem. We did that jointly and in a bipartisan, bicameral way. It was long overdue. But I am just going to close by saying you still have 60, 70 million acres of lands out there that we have responsibility for. They are the public's lands that are completely out of balance. Nature tells us that. Scientists reinforce that. And we need to do something about that.…”