Political Quotes

“I would like to thank the gentleman from Ohio, but I would also like to thank a lady and a Member, whom I have begun to call our ``lady of our lakes.'' Ms. Kaptur, thank you so much for speaking out the way you do about the Great Lakes, and also Mr. Joyce, a very good colleague and a friend, because we all understand what it is that makes the Great Lakes great. I think that is the whole point of what we are talking about. This is a gift from God. Now, you have heard Mr. Joyce talk about some of the statistics. But when you think about it, if you just close your eyes for 1 minute and visualize in your mind's eye the continental United States, the land mass. The volume of freshwater contained in our Great Lakes would cover that land mass by 9\1/2\ to 10 feet. It is an incredible amount of water. But, more importantly, it is an incredible gift from God. We have to protect this area. Why would we not? The statistics that we talk about are overwhelming. We thank a lot of people for being involved in this. But do you know who I want to thank more than anybody else? The hardworking American taxpayers. By our Constitution, we are granted the authority to tax them, but we are also given the responsibility to spend their money the right way. Why would we have a situation where we can't imagine that we would fund the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative? It just doesn't make sense.…”