Political Quotes

“Madam President, the title that our colleagues are complaining about in this bill--the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act, or VIDA--has been introduced in the last five Congresses since 2008, several times being led by Democrats. There have been numerous hearings, meetings, and protracted negotiations regarding VIDA, spanning days, weeks, months, and years. The bill has been passed out of the Commerce Committee two times this year and multiple times in the past always by voice vote. There are 23 cosponsors, including many from the other side of the aisle--Senators Casey, Nelson, Schatz, McCaskill, Coons, and Shaheen this year. Other cosponsors of similar past VIDA bills include Senators Hirono, Markey, Pryor, Warren, Coons, Manchin, and Hagan. There have been negotiations with committee members and people off the committee. We have accommodated and accommodated and accommodated so much--I have bent over backward so many times that I can't hardly stand up straight--trying to accommodate concerns that people have on this. Many of the folks speaking against VIDA have been in those negotiations, very honestly. Some of the friends across the aisle have extracted concession after concession, only to move the goalpost whenever we get close. Here is a list of some of the changes we have agreed to: State incidental discharge standards remain in place until promulgation of a final Coast Guard rule, allowing at least 2 years during which all the current standards remain in place.…”