Political Quotes

“I rise in opposition to the Furst amendment. I would like to correct a few things that I believe were inaccurate when they were stated before. I heard it mentioned that there had not been a single hearing. In fact, on February 28, 1995, before this was taken up, there was a hearing. There have been seven oversight hearings since then, four in the field, two in Washington, DC, and one with the Senate. Also, I think there needs to be a clear understanding that this does not exclude environmental concerns. An environmental assessment is required, a biological evaluation is required, and it is solely at the discretion of the Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior, as appropriate, to decide whether or not to allow these sales to go forward. So, Mr. Chairman, there may be some concern about whether or not the administration is adequately following the concerns; but it is interesting to me, this is something that we had a hearing on, we have had a series of hearings on. We debated this in the House. We have debated in the Senate. The administration initially vetoed it, came back, worked through the process again. Then the administration went to court to try to block what they signed, apparently saying they did not understand what they signed. Maybe they should pay a little more attention to it. In fact, it is a good law that is working. Never have we claimed that there would only be dead trees.”