Political Quotes

“I would like to thank the gentleman from Alabama for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the rule and the underlying legislation, H.R. 5226, the Regulatory Integrity Act. In recent years, a disturbing trend has emerged among Federal agencies. In a number of instances, Federal agencies have used taxpayer dollars to fund public communication campaigns attempting to lobby for agency regulations. Despite multiple Federal laws explicitly prohibiting this, agencies continue to ignore these laws and use taxpayer dollars to lobby on the very regulations their agencies are developing. Several months ago, in my own home State of Washington, a campaign known as What's Upstream came to light. I would like to point your attention to this poster. Through this broad and unfair ad campaign, all farmers were demonized as careless polluters. What's Upstream used billboards, bus and radio ads, and a visually assaulting Web site depicting dead fish and polluted water to encourage private citizens to contact their State legislators and push for stricter regulations on farmers. It is also important to note that it has been discovered that these images were not even from the State of Washington. {time} 1315 As a lifelong farmer myself, who has seen firsthand the remarkable proactive steps farmers have taken to protect our resources, I was insulted by the blatant lies this campaign has spread about farmers.…”