Marshall Sanford: “I want to make clear I am offering this amendment on behalf of the gentleman from New Jersey, Frank LoBiondo, who I know…”

“I want to make clear I am offering this amendment on behalf of the gentleman from New Jersey, Frank LoBiondo, who I know has worked with my colleague, the gentleman from Virginia, Don Beyer, on this bipartisan measure. I think it is one that makes sense. It would, quite simply, restrict money with regard to seismic testing on the Atlantic waters and the waters of the Florida Straits. Now, why do I think that that is important? I think it is important because you don't build a foundation if you don't intend to build a house. And yet, fundamentally, what we are trying to do is move forward on something that I think begs this most Republican of questions, which is: Do we believe in home rule? At home, every municipality of every town and hamlet along the coast of South Carolina has come out unanimously against the idea of offshore drilling and seismic testing, not because they are against fossil fuel, but simply because they believe that they want to determine themselves how the coast of South Carolina develops. That is obviously the case with many colleagues from Florida, who have now headed home to deal with the hurricane, and a whole host of other places up and down the Atlantic and, again, the Straits of Florida.…”