Speeches
May 22, 2019
Speeches
In 1970, S. Dillon Ripley of the Smithsonian Institution predicted that by 1995, between 75 and 80 percent of all species of living animals on our planet would be extinct. In 1979, Oxford University biologist Norman Myers predicted that one million species would go extinct by the year 2000. In 1989, Noel Brown, a senior U.N. Environmental Official, warned that by the year 2000, entire nations would be wiped off the face of the earth as oceans would rise by up to three feet. Now along comes the latest contribution to apocalyptic predictions...
Issues:
May 17, 2019
Speeches
There are some fundamental principles we should all be able to agree on. Don’t hurt other people; respect the right of doctors to do no harm; respect the right of parents to protect their children. The bill before us today could have affirmed the right of every adult to declare their own gender consistent with these principles. Unfortunately, it violates these principles in the most fundamental ways.
May 15, 2019
Speeches
The Subcommittee meets today to consider H.R. 2532 by Congressman Grijalva. The bill would over-ride the provisions of the Endangered Species Act and apply permanent regulatory restrictions to the management of grizzly bear populations -- perpetuating federal control of wildlife management decisions traditionally and effectively managed by state authorities -- even after a listed species has recovered its population to sustainable levels.
Issues:
May 8, 2019
Speeches
The subpoena issued by this committee puts the Attorney General in a legal Catch-22: To comply with the subpoena, he must break the law. If he obeys the law, he must disobey the subpoena.
Issues:
May 8, 2019
Speeches
The subcommittee meets today to consider nine bills dealing with various aspects of ocean resource management.
Issues:
April 9, 2019
Speeches
I am afraid that both sides are losing sight of why we have a First Amendment? It is because the freedom to speak your mind is absolutely essential in a free society. Jefferson said, “Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.” Speech can be ugly, disgusting, hateful, prejudiced and alarming. But it can never be dangerous to a free society as long as men and women of good will have the freedom of speech to dispute it, challenge it and reject it.
April 3, 2019
Speeches
I called for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate charges of collusion before Mr. Mueller was appointed. I believed the President was completely innocent of these outlandish charges and that a full and independent investigation would show that. Now it has.
And I, too, want to see as much of the report made public as quickly as possible to put the lie to those politicians who have been telling us for more than two years that they held in their hands irrefutable evidence of coordination between the Russian government and the Trump campaign...
April 2, 2019
Speeches
The subcommittee meets today to consider “The State of Western Water Infrastructure and Innovation.” Central to this discussion is a simple question: which is better: abundance or shortage? The answer is so self-evident, it seems like a trick question.
March 28, 2019
Speeches
The Subcommittee meets today to consider the Colorado Drought Contingency Plan, agreed to by all of the states that draw from the Colorado River Basin. The dams on the Colorado have been the foundation of the prosperity of the Western states that rely on them to store water from wet years to assure abundance in dry ones. Forty million people and 5 ½ million acres of productive farmland now depend on the water stored behind these dams and 4,000 megawatts of hydroelectricity their turbines generate.
Issues:
March 26, 2019
Speeches
For 43 years, the President of the United States has had the statutory authority granted by Congress to declare a national emergency and to re-program unobligated military construction funds to meet that emergency. Fifty-eight times, previous presidents have invoked this authority to address such matters as civil unrest in Sierra Leone and Burma...