Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today in support of Lee amendment No. 3023, which places commonsense limitations on the ability of the executive branch to unilaterally lock up large swaths of public land. Specifically, the amendment provides Congress and the applicable State legislatures a 3-year window to approve Presidentially declared national monuments, ensuring that land use decisions finally have the input from the impacted States. Arizona knows all too well the effects of restrictive Federal land designations. Like most Western States, a significant portion of Arizona is under Federal ownership. Arizona leads the Nation with a total of 21 national parks and monuments. Like most, our Federal land is a mix of single-purpose lands set aside for recreation and multiple- use lands providing opportunities for grazing, mining, and timber production. The ability to use these lands for multiple purposes is critical; however, a national monument designation can take away that opportunity with one stroke of the President's pen. It is also worth noting that a monument designation has the potential to change the character of the water rights associated with Federal lands--an outcome I am working to prevent with separate stand-alone legislation. There is a real concern that the President will take unilateral action to increase the Federal Government's ownership of Federal lands.…”