Political Quotes

“And Ranking Member Torres, thank you for bringing this legislation to the floor once again. I want to elaborate a little bit on what my friend and colleague from Portland talked about. It was more than just a camping trip. It was 3 nights with backpacks, 4 days, 41 miles, and 9,000 feet of gain and loss in elevation. We went all the way around Mt. Hood, which is an extraordinary piece of Oregon, and we had a wonderful time. Along the way, we had our ornithologist there; we had geologists there; we had biologists; we had advocates for wilderness and advocates for recreation. We were met by, I think it was, the Mazamas with watermelons. One afternoon, they hiked them up I don't know how many thousand feet to share with us. It was really a kind of Oregon-way experience, because we all care deeply about the watersheds, the jobs, the recreation, the beauty, the incredible piece of the world we live in around Mt. Hood. It is my home area. I grew up around the Hood River. This land exchange has been a battle since the 1970s, in a sense, in that my community long ago said: We don't want a lot of development up in this Crystal Springs watershed and in this very pristine area around the Hood River upper valley. It really belongs around the corner of Mt. Hood, up in Government Camp where there already is development. This fight has gone on for years; and all sides came together, as we did in our legislation, and said: We agree.…”