Political Quotes

“I offer this amendment to the HOPE VI bill, and I would like to talk about first of all what this amendment does not do because my fear is the argument on the other side is going to distort what I really think the core of the discussion between my amendment and those opposed should be. This amendment in no way is an advocate for destroying or throwing out the window environmental or green building standards. That is not my goal or my intention with this amendment. It retains requirements for green building standards, but it looks at how we build green in a different way. In the bill presently, there is a mandatory building standard that has been a criteria that has been developed by a proprietary preference for one organization. My amendment would simply move this out of a mandated into the green communities specifically mandated criteria, and move it into a more flexible situation where the Secretary would then choose an appropriate green building standard, green building rating system and code that would address environmental considerations, and leaves flexibility for the Secretary, this Secretary and secretaries to follow, to be able to determine that criteria. We are going to be building these HOPE VI projects all across this Nation, and I think it is important to note that there should be some geographic considerations for green building standards across the country.”