Political Quotes

“I come to the floor to join my colleagues who have already spoken on this issue, but maybe to give a little bit more of a historical context. I know my colleagues from a variety of States throughout the United States have presented a different viewpoint and have a viewpoint because of their own economic interests in their State, but the larger question here is what is in the economic interests of the United States? All of the land submerged between the territory and seas beyond our shores and the oil and gas resources they contain belong to the Nation as a whole and to the people of the United States. More than 60 years ago, a few of these coastal States tried to claim the submerged lands and their resources, but the Supreme Court rejected that, rejected the coastal States' claims, and held that submerged lands and their resources did belong to the Nation--the whole Nation. Their response was: ``National interests, national responsibilities, national concerns are involved.'' In spite of the Supreme Court's decision, Congress voted to give away the submerged lands beneath our territories and seas to the adjacent States in 1953. That Submerged Lands Act was dubbed the ``Oil Give-Away Law'' by its opponents. The law gave the coastal States the submerged lands to a distance of 3 nautical miles from the coast land. For these historical reasons, Florida, Texas, and others were included.…”