Political Quotes

“I rise tonight to again talk about the saga of the Klamath Basin and the farmers who have lived there and tilled the ground and fed the Nation. As my colleagues know, Mr. Speaker, on April 6, they cut off the water. They said, no water for the farmers this year; the suckerfish would prevail. Mr. Speaker, word is finally getting out about this crisis. There have been stories in The New York Times, and today in the Washington Post there is a story. It has been on Fox News and other networks, CNN and others, who are beginning to cover this story and the tragedy that is occurring at ground zero of the Endangered Species Act debate. Today, in the Washington Post, Michael Kelly, a columnist, writes, ``The Endangered Species Act has worked as intended, but it has been exploited by environmental groups whose agenda is to force humans out of lands they wish to see returned to a prehuman state. Never has this been made more nakedly, brutally clear than in the battle of Klamath Falls.'' Mr. Speaker, I want to read today from a couple of letters I have received from constituents. These folks, Bill and Ethel Rust wrote, ``We have not written sooner as shock and disbelief have kept us almost immobilized and so sick at heart. My husband is 76 years old and a Navy veteran of World War II, having lost a brother in this war. We have been ranchers our entire life and depended on this for our livelihood. We are still in shock that our own government has taken this away from us.…”