Political Quotes

“Mr. President, just to speak very, very briefly to the good Senator's amendment to amend the Antiquities Act to prohibit the President from designating national monuments in Utah. He and I have had some opportunity to speak to this issue, and I certainly agree with him when it comes to the policy goals that he is seeking to assert here. I clearly understand the frustration he has. With the previous administration, I believe we have seen a real abuse of authority--certainly an abuse of the spirit--of the Antiquities Act. We saw that in Utah when millions of acres were locked up through Executive designation. This was done despite some pretty robust local opposition and objection. This is a scenario that I know pretty well because, in my State, we have a Federal landlord that owns about 63 percent of the State, 224 million acres. We have a provision in ANILCA that is a specific no-more clause, prohibiting the withdrawal of more than 5,000 acres absent congressional approval. The Obama administration circumvented that law. They placed hundreds of thousands of additional acres off limits to development. What my colleague is seeking here, the ability to affirm or reject a monument designation by the State of Utah, is something that, again, I truly understand.…”