I appreciate the opportunity to talk about H.R. 250, which would reform the Antiquities Act of 1906 by requiring congressional approval of any national monument designated by the President.

Unfortunately, Presidents have used the Antiquities Act for purposes clearly beyond its original intent of preserving small parcels of land containing Indian artifacts that were being looted and vandalized and required immediate protection.

Under current law the President can unilaterally designate national monuments on Federal land outside of Alaska or Wyoming without any check or balance from the U.S. Congress.

I am sad to say it has been abused by Republican Presidents as well as has been abused by Democrat Presidents.

You can easily create conservation and energy development if you go through the process ahead of time and plan for that, which I truly believe.

Enacting this legislation is vital to help complete the world famous San Antonio Mission Trail.

It is time it was reformed.

I believe that coordinated statements of policy engender confidence in the agencies and provide clearer guidance for businesses and practitioner, and that is what I would strive for, if confirmed.

the conduct was not anticompetitive.

More broadly, I worry that such voluntary commitments take the Commission away from enforcing antitrust standards according to the rule of law, and instead toward an informal, and in my mind illegitimate, regulatory approach.

telling half-truths to maintain a monopoly or near monopoly position.

I worry a little bit about the precedent that that decision might set.

I do have some concerns with this legislation and just wanted to run through those really quickly.

Thank you. And I thank you for supporting my bill with that. That is a really good thing on the NEPA process.

The bills here do not remove a tool from the President, they try to reform a tool for the President.

DOD is currently spending about $10 billion more conducting the war effort in Afghanistan this year than was estimated would be necessary.

General Dunford, a U.N. report in February stated that Afghanistan lost $3.9 billion in 2012 due to public sector corruption.

General Dunford, as the United States and Afghanistan negotiate for a troops presence in the country, can we continue to expect similar miscalculations in the future as referenced in the question above?