Heidi Alexander: “I want to congratulate my colleague from Louisiana, one of the most diligent Members of the U.S. Senate. He complimented…”

“I want to congratulate my colleague from Louisiana, one of the most diligent Members of the U.S. Senate. He complimented the occupant of the Chair, Senator Gardner from Colorado, for doing a great job for his State. I think Senator Cassidy did a good job advocating for his State. But he left a little bit of perspective out on what he offered, and I would like to add some perspective. As he was speaking, I was thinking about the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This occurred in the 1930s. During the Great Depression, when everyone was worried about a job and everyone was worried about our country, the people of North Carolina and Tennessee appropriated through their State legislatures $2 million each. Then John D. Rockefeller, Jr., heard about the effort, and he said: ``I will give $5 million if the States will match it.'' So you had four--two from North Carolina, two from Tennessee--and then they set out to raise another $1 million. They raised that from schoolchildren. They collected pennies and dimes and quarters in the middle of the Depression to create the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. At the time they did that, what did the people of Tennessee and North Carolina do? They gave it to the people of the United States of America. They gave it to all of us. They didn't charge for it.…”