Political Quotes

“While the parties have been speaking, and we have been in contact with the White House to see how difficult the time schedule in the S. 149 bill would be to meet, I have been told there is no problem meeting those time schedules, that the agencies can do that, the agencies have done that; that the records show they have been able to meet those time deadlines, and the administration is opposed to this amendment. This amendment allows the reviewing agency to stop the clock during the licensing application process. One of our difficulties in arriving at a bill has been to eliminate turf battles. The agencies are working very cooperatively, but there is the potential of who will be in charge of what and how long the delay and who can cause them, which changes the balance between the agencies. This bill has that balance between agencies. The agencies agree--and there will be a letter on everyone's desk-- that they have the capability of operating 60 days under this bill. This bill does not just give 60 days. It could give 120 days the way it is written, which in addition to the 30 is 150 days for a process that has been workable in less than 30 days by each of the three main agencies that have been reviewing the bill. Under this amendment, a single agency could further delay the approval of the license based on the complexity of analysis and then potentially use the other excuse to delay it another 60 days.”