Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, and to Congressman Grijalva, let me thank you for your leadership on this very important issue, and to Congressman Bishop as well for managing this legislation and acknowledging the concerns that may have been expressed. And I offer maybe this rebuttal to some of the points that have been made, and celebrate legislation that really recognizes that we are not here on the floor to only provide jobs and support the student conservation association, if that is what it is being interpreted as, but frankly to be part of fixing America's crumbling infrastructure, and certainly our public lands need fixing. Years of inadequate funding have left our public land management agencies with huge backlogs of labor-intensive work on national parklands, wildlife refuges, historic sites, and Indian lands. As we watch America take advantage of visiting their Capitol, for example, to see the many monuments and sites that are here, they don't want to come and see monuments that have chipped surfaces or that are dangerous to visit. And this opportunity to employ our young people and to teach them character and integrity is a very important part of this legislation. I for one have spoken to my State parks management entity asking them to look more carefully at the parks in inner cities, the opportunities for them to be designated national parks and to be able to put more parks in the inner cities that are under the jurisdiction of our Federal Government.…”