Political Quotes

“Included in this en bloc amendment is amendment #163 to H.R. 1960, made in order by H. Res. 260. This amendment is bipartisan and submitted by myself, Mr. Fleischmann of Tennessee and Mr. Lujan of New Mexico. It will protect and provide public access to Manhattan Project facilities at three Department of Energy former defense sites through the establishment of an historical park. This is essentially the text of H.R. 1208, reported favorably by the Committee on Natural Resources by unanimous consent in May 2013. These three locations that the park will encompass were integral to the tremendous engineering and human achievements of the Manhattan Project launched during World War II. The three locations are the Hanford site in my home State of Washington, Los Alamos in New Mexico, and Oak Ridge in Tennessee. The vast majority of the facilities that are eligible to be included in this park are already owned by the federal government, and they are located on former defense lands owned and controlled by the Department of Energy. As our nation already possesses these pieces of history, the real purpose of this amendment is to officially declare the importance of preserving the history, providing access to the public, and include the unique abilities of the National Park Service to help tell this story. Currently, some of these facilities slated for inclusion in this park are scheduled to be destroyed at considerable taxpayer expense.…”