Wes Cooley said "We have both served in legislature and in government prior to coming to Congress, and as State legislators and a State senator, we mandated many things which we were forced to pass on to the small communities which we knew would not be able to financially afford them. But we had to pass those down. Because in that process, if we didn't, the Federal Government, as you know through the mandate process, has a compromise system, and if you do not follow mandates, sometimes you are penalized by not receiving other returns on Federal funding. So the system is more a system I would say of blackmail than it is of cooperation and spirit, and it should be done in cooperation and spirit, and not in the system that forces people to do it when they really truly want to, but maybe financially cannot, nor is it necessary." @ PoliticalQuotes.com

On the recordJanuary 20, 1995

We have both served in legislature and in government prior to coming to Congress, and as State legislators and a State senator, we mandated many things which we were forced to pass on to the small communities which we knew would not be able to financially afford them. But we had to pass those down. Because in that process, if we didn't, the Federal Government, as you know through the mandate process, has a compromise system, and if you do not follow mandates, sometimes you are penalized by not receiving other returns on Federal funding. So the system is more a system I would say of blackmail than it is of cooperation and spirit, and it should be done in cooperation and spirit, and not in the system that forces people to do it when they really truly want to, but maybe financially cannot, nor is it necessary.

Said by

Wes Cooley

Oregon

Source

govinfo.gov

Editor's note · Context

Discussing the impact of federal mandates on state and local governments.

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