Dale Bumpers: “I, first of all, express my sincere admiration and respect to the distinguished Senator from Virginia for having labored…”

“I, first of all, express my sincere admiration and respect to the distinguished Senator from Virginia for having labored in the vineyards for a very long time in an effort to get the Shenandoah Valley battlefields the national designation they deserve. I am on the advisory council to the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites, which is based in Fredericksburg. They have been very interested in this legislation. Every Civil War buff is interested in this legislation. As chairman of the subcommittee that is considering this bill, I can tell you that we are working as diligently as we can to draft language that will accomplish precisely what the Senator wants. There are a lot of interests to be accommodated, but any time you can get local governments, private individuals, and the Federal Government all involved in protecting an area that badly needs to be preserved, the language has to be drafted very carefully. I am hoping that the Senator's staff and the subcommittee staff will have this bill in final draft form. I hope they will have the language in final draft form by the time we go to the next markup in the full committee. I have to say with all candor to the distinguished Senator from Virginia he is much more likely to find opposition on his side of the aisle than he is on this side. But having said that, I think the bill has tremendous merit. It is certainly at the present time my intention to support the bill very strongly.”