Date: 1999-04-21
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the gentleman for yielding. and I want to build just for a minute on the remarks that he said. I do not know where this attack or the truth squad comes with respect to the Vice President. but clearly his record is unparalleled not only in getting our country to address and be aware of problems concerning the environment. but as a troubleshooter and as a problem solver. We all remember the Forest Summit. Prior to that in the previous administration all we had was a train wreck where nothing was being done. more and more people were losing their job. it looked like more and more endangered species were going to be threatened. and nothing was being done. And as a result of the Vice President and President Clintons work and your work and others. we have started to work our way out of that problem. We have started to put new jobs back into the forest. we are starting to reconstruct some of the damage that has been done in the past. we have worked out habitat conservation areas. But that is true in the Everglades under the leadership of the Vice President. That is true on the Conference on the Oceans. That is true in Lake Tahoe. These huge natural assets. wonderful ecological environmental assets that are the jewels in this Nation. the forests of the Pacific Northwest. the Tongass. the rain forest in Alaska. the Everglades. the southern Utah wilderness areas. Lake Tahoe I have already mentioned. Monterey Bay Sanctuary. these are areas where we had nothing but controversy before. nothing but controversy and arguments and at the same time having the ecosystems deteriorate and go downhill. This administration. under the leadership of the Vice President. stepped in and started to get communities towork together so we see in the most recent and dramatic listing of the salmon. we see the City of Seattle. we see the Governor of Washington. the Governor of Oregon. the Mayor of Portland. people talking about making this an event that they can work with. that they can help bring economic activity to the area and save the environment at the same time. That has been the thinking of this Vice President. that the environment could be a winwin. He has also told America about the markets that are available in trade on environmental equipment to help clean up the environment in other countries. He has pushed to open those markets. billions of dollars in business that is available for companies in the United States. So I think that. as the gentleman points out. and I will have more to say about those who would attack them and what their record would be cn the environment. but my colleague makes an incredibly important point. that he has been a troubleshooter and he has brought communities together. he has given people a seat at the table where they never had one before. and as a result of that in a number of these instances we are working out a consensus. we are working out a consensus on California water. a consensus on the Everglades. a consensus on the marine resources in this Nation because people have been given a stake in the outcomes of those irrangements. So I think you have raised a very. very important point about his role and his effectiveness over the last several years.