Political Quotes

“I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the chairman of the committee for allowing me to offer this amendment. It prevents the Department of the Interior from competing with our local job creators in the use of UAS--unmanned aerial systems--for land surveying, mapping, imaging, and remote sensing data activities. There is concern that agencies like the USGS and the Bureau of Land Management are acquiring the UAS and utilizing them on projects that can be accomplished by the private sector. We have no problem with them using them. We have no problem with them using them for forest fires and those types of things, for emergency situations, but where local businesses can do this work, we think that it is unfair for the government to take that work away. Having the Department compete with local employers results in a loss of business for private geospatial firms under contract to other Federal mapping agencies. The government is actually getting a leg up on the private market by obtaining Certificates of Authorization, or COAs, and performing services with UAS that are otherwise commercial in nature. Current law and regulation permits private citizens and firms to operate UAS for a hobby. However, there is no effective enforcement to prevent government abuse of such authority for commercial purposes. The fact that government agencies can operate a UAS while the private sector cannot as freely or timely gain airspace access has created and uneven playing field.…”