Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, in closing, let me just say, this amendment does not in any way take any resources away from any of the six States in the Chesapeake Bay region to improve water quality. What it does take away is the ability of the EPA to dictate to those States one way, their way, to do it. The Clean Water Act was written with it in mind that the Federal Government would set the standards and the States would figure out how to meet those standards. And that flexibility has been taken away starting in the Obama administration, and it is time for this Congress to stop them from doing that so that we can have the kind of collaborative effort just described by the subcommittee chairman, Mr. Calvert, and get back to doing things the right way. Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time. Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, for more than 35 years, there has been a regional partnership created through the Chesapeake Bay Program, and it sought to restore and protect the Nation's largest and most productive estuaries. That is a partnership with the Federal Government which includes funding that is working together to achieve those common goals. Now, I have nothing before me saying that the State of Virginia, or any of the regional partners, want to withdraw from this moving forward to continue to clean up this estuary.…”