Alan Lowenthal

I want to make clear that right after he issued the proclamation Executive Order, we are aware that in the 105th and 106th Congress, that Congress ratified these new boundaries.

Also, there are going to be approximately 677,000 acres of Federal public lands, and your bill would potentially open up those 677,000 acres of Federal public lands that are no longer within the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

So we need some mechanism to reach these foreign ministers of the countries that have already signed their signatures.

Do you see us as a Congress writing to our State Department and asking them to reconvene or to raise this issue with the foreign ministers possibly?

We are witnessing the death of democracy.

I would like to raise some other things that I have heard so far this morning to really talk about where we can go.

I think that is critically important. And we are seeing that there is no easy silver bullet to do it.

You have been a steadfast proponent and champion for democracy.

What do we do now to make sure--and is there a path to do it?

I want to quote from one of my colleagues from California: ``Eliminating the State and local tax deduction would assure that almost all of the bill's tax cuts would be distributed to other States, leaving California with the bill.'' That…

I demand a recorded vote. A recorded vote was ordered. The SPEAKER pro tempore. This is a 5-minute vote. The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 216, noes 204, not voting 13, as follows: [Roll No. 643] AYES--216…

I am here to say that there are many mines in the State of Minnesota that I do support, that are ecologically--that are protected, but this is a different mine. We are only talking about one type of mine.

How much time do I have remaining? The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from California has 1 minute remaining.

How much time do I have remaining? The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from California has 9\1/2\ minutes remaining.

And I would like the chairman to answer a question. That pit that the gentleman just showed us, is that a taconite pit or is that a sulfide pit in Minnesota?

I think that we have made a very strong case that economically this does not make sense. It could potentially destroy the tourist industry. What makes Minnesota unique is the wilderness areas, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness…

Reclaiming my time, I would like to talk about that because of what type of mine this is. As has been pointed out, northern Minnesota has had a long history of mining, but the mine that we are talking about here is not like any other mine…

Unfortunately, many of the reforms that we are discussing today would cut out these very important voices of my constituents, the ones that need NEPA the most, potentially.

One of the greatest things about NEPA, in my opinion, is that it gives ordinary Americans a tool to weigh in on projects that can affect them, environmentally, economically, and culturally.

My Republican colleagues tell me that this tax plan will grow the economy and make American workers more competitive, but, in reality, the plan would bankrupt our future. It threatens provisions that directly support our schools and our…

How sad this is for the residents of Puerto Rico, how things in terms of their perspective have moved slowly.

It is really an honor, as the person who is the co-chair of the Ports Caucus in the Congress of the United States and also as the representative of the Port of Long Beach, cybersecurity is not an area that I am proficient in.

As I yield back I also want to agree with Congressman Rohrabacher that we definitely need a sustainable revenue stream to enhance the movement of goods.

I would like to know from the--if there are these vulnerabilities, not just for the large ones, and the large ones were saying we will live. We don't know how the smaller ones that were impacted are actually going to be able to exist.

Several of our panelists have highlighted--along with Congressman DeFazio--the need to stabilize the Highway Trust Fund, but also to seek additional revenue sources to fund needed infrastructure investment.