Political Quotes

“I have to wonder sometimes about the seriousness of these motions to recommit that come from the other side, but I especially have to do so today. Earlier today, we passed a continuing resolution that provides over $600 million for firefighters in order to fund all of these firefighting actions we have had this year, and the author of the MTR voted against the motion to recommit. There is nothing serious here. This motion to recommit offers absolutely no solution. Here are the facts: The fact is that just last year--and we haven't gotten the figures for this year--over 9 million acres of national forestland burned. Can you imagine the carbon imprint of that, by the way? Secondly, we only harvested, or managed, 200,000 acres nationwide. That means that 44 times more national forestlands burned than were properly managed. This bill addresses that by properly managing our forests. The result will get us back to where we used to be when we used to spend $1 on forest management and get $2 back in return because we managed our forests. Now it's reversed. For every $2 we spend today, we get $1 back. That doesn't make any sense at all. There have been no solutions out there, and this is not a solution either. The solution is the underlying bill. I urge a ``no'' vote on the MTR and a ``yes'' vote on the underlying bill. I yield back the balance of my time. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the previous question is ordered on the motion to recommit.…”