Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chair, I want to thank the gentlemen from Pennsylvania, Chairman Shuster along with Mr. Thompson, for being cosponsors of this amendment. I urge my colleagues to support it. It is simply not true that this amendment would interfere with the cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay, and I am going to repeat what I said earlier. My amendment does not remove the TMDL or the watershed implementation plans. It only removes the retaliatory actions threatened by the EPA. The current plans and processes the States are using to clean up the bay are working. That is absolutely right. They are working, and they started long before this imposition by the EPA that occurred at the beginning of the Obama administration. States have made great strides in cleaning up the bay, so why continue to threaten them with an EPA takeover of their water quality plans. The other argument that is made is the Federal Government needs to be involved in this cleanup process. Well, I believe the Federal Government should be a partner in this effort. As the chairman has noted, they can play an important function. However, the current process has the EPA dictating to States, local communities, and businesses instead of a cooperative approach. That is not playing a part; that is controlling the process. Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this important amendment. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR.…”