[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16553]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



         EXTREMIST ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS SHOULD NOT RUN CONGRESS

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, no doubt many of us find it very disturbing 
that at the same time that Congress is spending billions of taxpayer 
dollars for thousands of vague Government programs, a number of our 
more liberal colleagues would vote to destroy the jobs of hard-working 
minors and families across the United States. It is truly a perplexing 
and even sad time for my constituents in this Congress.
  Paradoxically, many of my colleagues give millions of dollars away to 
someone who can study the mating habits of fruit flies and yet at the 
same time vote for an amendment that would effectively take the food 
off the tables of thousands of hard-working families in Nevada and 
elsewhere.
  Mr. Speaker, what I would like to tell these families is, why would 
Congress do this? What will I tell them? Tell them that they and half 
of their community lost their jobs so that a small handful of hikers 
did not have to see a mine on their bird watching hike?
  I would like to remind my colleagues that a majority of mining States 
have a cleaner environmental bill of health than most nonmining States 
in this country.
  Also, the millions of dollars in tax dollars paid by mines across the 
country rule out the ``free ride'' argument that some of my colleagues 
would suggest.
  Mr. Speaker, sound science and common sense should rule this 
Congress, not the extremist environmental groups who prey on public 
emotion.

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