Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, once again I appreciate the comments that are made in defense of this organization, but as I said before, this is a 30-year- old problem. Unfortunately, NOAA Corps is not part of the military. They don't do military-type functions. The National Health Services, the other uniformed corps, they don't get these same kind of benefit. The gentleman is right; there is a provision, and there has been, on the ability of expanding this corps if there were appropriations for it and if the Secretary of Commerce would justify it. The problem is this bill removes that. So it will now be up to the corps to decide what their size is and what their justification is. It is the wrong thing to do. This is the wrong approach. This is not the right way of doing it. And I am sorry, the studies have shown that repeatedly over and over and over again. If, indeed, there are some people who want to do this, it is wrong. It is simply wrong. This is not a military. To insist that they get military benefits is an abuse of the system. It doesn't happen anywhere else. It is only with this. So I am sorry. With that, Mr. Speaker, I don't have to play this game of reserving. I would be happy to, but I think we are the only ones left on this topic on the floor. No one else actually cares.…”