Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman, Mr. Woodall, my good friend from the Rules Committee, for yielding me such time. Mr. Speaker, I also welcome Mrs. Torres to her first management of a rule on the floor. It is a pleasure to have her as part of the Rules Committee. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule, including the underlying legislation, H.R. 3144, of which I am a proud original cosponsor. H.R. 3144, Mr. Speaker, is a vital piece of legislation for my constituents as well as for the greater Pacific Northwest region. The legislation keeps in place a groundbreaking, comprehensive plan which governs the operations and salmon protection management plan for the Federal Columbia River Power System. This plan was the product of painstaking negotiations conducted by the Bush and the Obama administrations, scientists, engineering experts at Federal agencies, affected States, sovereign Northwest Tribes, and local stakeholders. In fact, every Tribe in the region was consulted in the development of the 2014 biological opinion, and all but one supported it. H.R. 3144 ensures that Tribal consultations provided for under the BiOp continue unaffected. These experts collaborated to develop this comprehensive plan to both protect Endangered Species Act-listed salmon and to provide certainty for our region's ability to continue providing clean, renewable, and affordable power derived from hydroelectric dams.…”