Political Quotes

“we come to the floor tonight with a heavy heart because we were hoping that as Democrats and as Republicans, we would be able to talk to the administration and have them reach a commonsense conclusion as it pertained to the progress that we have made in this country in abating air pollution; in the way we have accommodated the growth of industry in this Nation. While making the air cleaner, we have been making progress. The Clean Air Act itself is a tremendous success. We continue to clean the air, and no one predicts during the coming years that under the current standards for particulate matter and for ozone that we would continue to clean the air. But today, the President of the United States has recommended a tightening of those standards. In essence, it is changing the finish line as we are about to complete the race. It is saying to the Governors across this Nation and saying to mayors of cities and villages across this Nation and other political local leaders that we in the Federal Government think that we want to change the rules. It is a bad decision, it is a bad decision for the health of this Nation, because what will happen is State implementation plans aimed at cleaning the air are going to come to a grinding halt. They will have to be changed. Things that are being done by industry, things that are being done across this country that are working, that are cleaning the air, will have to be changed.”