Lincoln Chafee: “every so often we are put in a difficult situation with amendments presented by somebody we have great affection and…”

“every so often we are put in a difficult situation with amendments presented by somebody we have great affection and respect for, yet we are not in a position to agree with the amendment. Such is the instance here where we are now wrestling with the amendment presented by the distinguished Senator from Arkansas, with whom I have had the privilege of working on the Environment Committee and who is a very valuable member of that committee. Just yesterday we worked closely on a very major piece of legislation which unanimously came out of the committee, and part of the reason it was so successful in the committee was because of the help from the Senator from Arkansas. But I must say I think he is making a mountain out of a molehill here, if you would. Maybe I ought to put it in river terms in some fashion. What occurred was in the State of the Union Address the President announced a plan to create initiatives designed to assist communities in their efforts to clean up and restore rivers and riverfront areas. Last week, he signed an Executive order creating the American heritage rivers initiative.”