re: #48 freetoken

I’m getting the impression that over the years Ryan has been converted to actually believing the tea he’s been forced to drink. His fascination with Ayn Rand may have only been one of those things that young people do in their college years, but as he has aged Ryan has become more and more that about which he fantasized.

More:

Last year, I opposed the Administration’s plan to make regulatory changes to the Clean Water Act that would have sharply reduced the number of wetlands and streams that were protected by federal law. I am pleased that the Administration changed its position on the issue and has now begun to work actively to protect and restore wetlands in the United States. In fact, on Earth Day 2004, the President announced an aggressive new plan to create, improve, and protect at least three million wetland acres over the next five years in order to increase overall wetland acres and quality. The plan will be supported by the inclusion of $4.4 billion for conservation programs that include funding for wetlands in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 budget request. This represents an increase of $1.5 billion (53%) over FY 2001. The FY 2005 budget proposes to spend $349 million on our two key wetlands programs, the Wetlands Reserve Program and the North American Wetlands Conservation Act Grants Program. This represents an increase of more than 50% over FY 2001 for these two important programs.

And:

I have signed on as a cosponsor to H.R. 2720, the Great Lakes Restoration Act, which would authorize $4 billion in funding over a 5 year period to help the states move forward with clean-up projects, control the spread of invasive species, and curtail the loss of wildlife habitat. The funding would be distributed as a block grant to a Great Lakes Advisory Board of governors, mayors, federal representatives, and others who would allocate the funding to each state. At least one project would be funded in each Great Lakes state per year. The states would be responsible for providing matching funds for the projects. This bill is extremely important for states such as Wisconsin, where we continue to face beach closures and contamination problems.