Jay Inslee: “I must rise in vigorous opposition to the attempt of the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings) to cut one leg off a…”

“I must rise in vigorous opposition to the attempt of the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings) to cut one leg off a two-legged bill, because a 50 percent reduction in this acquisition, I think, cuts against three very important principles. One, I would allude to some basic American values that are inscribed in the bar of the House. And if my colleagues have never come down to take a look at them, they ought to sometime. Starting on the left, those basic American values are peace, liberty, tolerance, and justice. And the one we are talking about tonight is union. Because in a very rare display of bipartisanship, we have crafted a union of people across party lines and ideological lines that is embodied in this bill. Mr. Chairman, this amendment will dismember that union that has been so carefully built and vigorously built under the leadership of the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) and the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller), the ranking minority member. We ought to stay with this bill as it is. It is a union and it ought to pass. The second rule that is being violated by this amendment is one of physics, the rule pavement does not wait. Concrete does not wait. It does not wait for Congress. It will not wait if we cut 50 percent out of the acquisition funds of this land. That land will be gone.”