Patrick Kennedy: “I rise today in favor of the Gilchrest amendment. Let me just state from the outset that we have seen the devolution of…”

“I rise today in favor of the Gilchrest amendment. Let me just state from the outset that we have seen the devolution of authority go back to the States with respect to a number of programs, one of the most critical of which is protecting our environment. To show the absurdity of the Republican effort to protect the environment, they say ``Let all thee States do it. Let us have a State by State approach.'' It really makes no sense, when you are trying to clean up the air, because you cannot draw State lines around our air quality. We cannot draw State lines around our water quality. Now, with the amendment being proposed, they want to draw private property rights around migratory bird patterns. They want to draw property rights around fish species, like the fish only go to some person's property as opposed to someone else's. They want to say, ``Listen, if we want to put the power back into the locals' hands,'' that is what the big Republican mantra is, give it back to the locals; yet with the amendment being proposed, and hopefully we will support Gilchrest that would remedy it, they want to take the local initiative out of environmental protection.”