Political Quotes

“as with the previous gentleman speaking, when the Government takes action or the Government takes inaction, it has an impact on all of our lives. Sometimes that impact that the Government has on our lives can be positive, and other times it can be negative. I would agree with many Republicans and Democrats, with many liberals and conservatives, with many in industry and in labor and in the environmental movement that one of the positive things that the government has done is to provide us with clean air. The Clean Air Act and Clean Air Act amendments have been a great success. Coming from my region of western Pennsylvania where we had unbelievably dirty air because of the heavy industry and the steel mills, and you go back 30, 40, 50 years ago, our region was once described as hell with the lid off. In midday the sun would be blackened out by the soot that would be coming out of smokestacks that would not allow the sunshine to get down to the people on the earth, and people had tremendous problems breathing. In Donora, PA, people were actually dropping dead in the street many decades ago as they were the victims of a temperature inversion and all of the poisons that were spewed into the air. We have gotten beyond that, and in fact, I would invite, Mr. Speaker, you or any of my colleagues to come to Pittsburgh, PA, today. It is a beautiful city, it is a clean city.…”