Political Quotes

“I rise at the request of my colleagues to quickly explain my amendments prior to their consideration next week. Briefly I would be offering two amendments that will strengthen this worthy legislation. My first amendment would strike the mandated grandfather provision, and my second amendment would afford the private sector the same protection States will be given subsequent to intergovernmental mandates that are considered. The grandfather provision, found in section 2425(a), was added during the consideration of the Committee on Rules of the bill to protect all past mandates as long as they do not increase the mandate or decrease the resource allocated to fund it. In other words, the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Immigration Act, and Endangered Species Act, to name a few, are all protected from the procedural strictures this bill imposes on future mandates. Quite simply, this is a mistake. The very reason we are addressing this issue is because the pain inflicted by unfunded mandates upon the States has reached critical mass.”