[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 3, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H23]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   CONGRATULATING GALE NORTON ON HER NOMINATION AS SECRETARY OF THE 
                                INTERIOR

  (Mr. SCHAFFER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SCHAFFER. Madam Speaker, I would like to welcome everyone back 
and also to congratulate the Governor of Texas, the President-elect of 
the United States, not only for inspiring and earning the confidence of 
the country but in particular for the selection and nomination 
announcement early on about the Secretary of the Interior. Gale Norton, 
from Colorado, is the past attorney general for the great State of 
Colorado; and I am thoroughly excited and convinced that our 
colleagues, Madam Speaker, will be thrilled as well with the skill, 
expertise and attributes that Gale Norton will bring to the office of 
Secretary of the Interior. Her record in the State of Colorado is one 
that is clearly in the best interests of maintaining the integrity of 
our environment and doing so in a way that honors and respects western 
values and realizes the integral link between economic livelihoods of 
Westerners and also the maintenance and preservation of our most 
precious natural resources.
  It is going to be an exciting time for us to work closely with the 
Department of the Interior under that new leadership, and I am anxious 
to move ahead and look forward to working hard with the new secretary.

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