Lincoln Chafee: “I think the Senator made a rather telling point. He pointed out that if they enter into these contracts and the town…”

“I think the Senator made a rather telling point. He pointed out that if they enter into these contracts and the town fathers say, ``Look, if you do not like it you can vote us out of office,'' you say, ``What good does it do to vote you out of office, you have locked us in for 20 years? It is little satisfaction for us that you are gone but we are stuck with the contract.'' But I would like to say this. Here we are in a situation where if this Senate does nothing or this Congress does nothing, there will be no flow control at all. Yet we have publicly elected servants, Governors, Senators, coming to us and say, ``Extend this in perpetuity.'' That is what many of them want. These are people who are saying this before it is a done deal. In other words, the public knows their position, should know it, and many Governors--it has been no secret--do not say, ``Don't tell anybody, I am urging you to do this.'' So there are a lot of factors involved. But pursuant to the wishes and the views of the Senator from Arizona, and our own views likewise, we have set a sunset. We said this is all over with. We do not care what your arguments are. At the end of 30 years, there is not going to be any more flow control.”