Do you not feel that you have missed something here by not coming to the people in these good areas and getting their input?

Let me be clear; my administration values the relationships we have with the Wyoming State BLM Office and the District and Field Office staff throughout the state.

What is interesting to me is that, if you look at BLM and what their mission is, is that it specifically is to use the land, it is a land management agency, and it is supposed to consider conservation in every activity that it conducts.

To be clear, then, you are saying states with significant impact by this rule didn't need to be heard from, and that that was adequate. Is that what you are telling me?

Let me state clearly for the record that for decades, and decades, and decades, the good people of Utah have managed these lands in a responsible way.

We have bureaucrats on the East Coast who have never been to my district, who have hardly been to the West, other than to fly over it on their way to California, tell us that they know better than we do how to manage these lands.

Thank you for holding today's hearing and for the opportunity to share our support for this legislation.

The best environmentalists in the world--by the way, they hate to be called environmentalists, our farmers and ranchers are the best environmentalists in the world--have been taking care of and preserving and protecting these lands.

Nothing good has come out of that designation for the land in Utah, for the local tribes, and for the people who participate in this land.

I am trying to understand why that happens.

If you do not, it did not seem like the penalties were substantial.

It sounds like it is something that has to be executed by the Executive Branch. If they are not moving on that front you are looking to Congress to insist that they do move on that front.

Let the record show that the Democratic Party is in the majority in Congress now, so they take full responsibility.

I want to thank you and GAO for the extensive work that you do in, if you will, accounting for what is happening in our government, those things that are measured, or those things you can control.

I think like many that serve with me, we are discouraged by the high levels of waste, fraud, and abuse that were associated with our Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) relief efforts.

I must admit, I am a little frustrated sometimes. We will call for the Administration to do something, on the Executive Branch to do something, and we ask them to do so much stuff that it does not happen.

We do not have a person in charge of Congress.

Are you willing to extend the comment period, given the fact that so many people have not been heard from?