Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, the National Forest Service does a fantastic job of managing our Nation's natural resources. They manage them in Florida as well as all across the Nation, and they deserve to have the tools that they need to give them the flexibility to efficiently accomplish this job. So that's why I've joined with my fellow colleagues from Florida, Allen Boyd and Jeff Miller, to introduce the bipartisan Florida National Forest Land Adjustment Act, and I strongly urge its passage. Each of us has focused on a portion of this bill to ensure this comprehensive measure represents a strong public policy which will enable the Forest Service to embolden its mission. Now, in Leon County, that's the capital of Florida, there's a 114- acre parcel known as W-1979. And it's evolved--it's a tract of land that has evolved into a kind of unmanageable problem for the Apalachicola National Forest, which is right outside Tallahassee. Because of its configuration and because of the commercial development around it, the vegetation can't be managed very well. They can't use prescribed fire, and so although it's very important from a commercial standpoint and a developmental standpoint, it has really lost its national forest character. And so in an effort to provide the Forest Service with a method to manage this land, my provision of our joint bill would simply add this tract of land to the list that the Secretary of Agriculture is empowered to sell.…”