My great fear that despite all of our best efforts, it is still not enough.

It is my sense that it is also not a reflection on who you are as a community.

I think all of you have spoken today about the importance of building relationships to solve problems without creating more divisiveness.

Your testimony, you argue that it is important for Federal land management agencies not to create unnecessary tension.

I was very fortunate to be part of an Emery County public lands package that was signed into law this year.

Villainizing Westerners, and those who disagree with management decisions, does nothing to build the bridges of trust and cooperation that is vital to proper stewardship of the land.

Their safety should be, and is, of the utmost importance.

Absolutely no one in this room, on either side of the aisle, condones violence or threats against Federal employees--unfortunately, I feel the need to make that perfectly clear.

It is unfortunate that I feel I need to even make that statement.

Calling for local ownership and control of public lands does not embody an attack on the Federal Government.

Three years ago this Committee crafted a bi-partisan compromise between the then Republican-controlled Congress and the Obama administration Treasury Department to help bring stability to Puerto Rico's quickly unraveling debt crisis.

Changing it is not going to solve the issue at hand. It is like trying to expand home plate.

Without this Board, without the structure we have in hand, those three goals--the economic success, the governmental stability, as well as the path to statehood--are going to be significantly retarded, if not eliminated.

The Congress crafted PROMESA with bipartisan support but the goal of that was always to ensure that it regains financial credibility.

Today, unfortunately, we sit here to consider the exact opposite of what a bi-partisan compromise looks like.

The Majority has decided to propose an effort that would catastrophically dismantle every bit of the balanced law that Congress and the Obama administration worked so hard to put in place.

This entire process was always intended to be temporary.

Let's face it, the problems that Puerto Rico is facing right now, that the island is facing, simply come from a lot of bad decisions that were made in past governments.