Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, once again, I thank my distinguished friend from Pennsylvania and colleague for his very thoughtful work on this entire project. He has covered all of these regions. Mr. Chair, this amendment seeks to cut funding for the Great Lakes Authority in half, and I strongly oppose it. This is a newly authorized regional commission intended to create jobs in communities that need it most. As we crafted this bill, Mr. Chairman, we actually listened to Members and got Members' requests. This Commission, the Great Lakes Commission received a tremendous amount of bipartisan support for it. It is newly created, and that is one of the reasons that it has not had its funding. It has never had funding because it is brand-new. Mr. Chair, in that regard, especially in terms of the strong bipartisan support for this bill and for this Commission, I urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.”