Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, some 20 years ago, President Clinton went to Arizona and he pointed across the border into Utah, in my district, and he said: I'm creating a national monument over there--nearly 2 million acres. He did not have the courage to come to Utah to defend this monument nor to create it because he knew that the local people did not support it. That monument has been incredibly unpopular since then. It has kicked ranchers off the range. It has decimated the local economies, until we have reached this point, where some of the local school districts have had to declare an emergency because their schools are dying and their children are having to ride a bus for 2 hours, one way, 2 hours, to go to school. Why? Because there are no jobs that can support a family, and people are having to leave. Local input is so important to the creation of these monuments, and there are examples where local input and where people collaborating have worked together and come to a great solution. Rob Bishop has done that. Just yesterday, we held a bipartisan press conference where we had local mayors, Republicans and Democrats, on what we called the Mountain Accord. I am asking President Obama, please, come to my State. Talk to the people in my district. See what they think about this monument. Come talk to us and see how this will impact them. Now, let me close with this. There is a reason I live in Utah. I love to ski. I love to rock climb. I love to hike.…”