Political Quotes

“as the House considers the conference report for the National Defense Authorization Act for FY- 2000, I would like to restate my intent on a provision I authored in last year's Defense Authorization Act, which is currently being implemented by the Department of Energy. The provision (section 3139 of PL 105-261) created the Office of River Protection (``ORP'') to be headed by a ``senior'' DOE official who would report directly to the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management. This individual would manage ``all aspects'' of the tank waste cleanup program at the Hanford site in my district. The provision also provided to the Manager of the Office of River Protection all resources ``necessary'' to manage the Handford tank privatization project in an ``efficient and streamlined'' manner. As sponsor of this provision of law, my intent is that the Manager of ORP should be accorded full decision making authority for planning, budgeting, acquisition, contract administration, and line safety responsibility for managing cleanup of the legacy high-level radioactive tank waste threatening the Columbia River.”