Anna Eshoo: “earlier this month, I held eight townhall meetings throughout my district to celebrate Earth Day and listen to what…”

“earlier this month, I held eight townhall meetings throughout my district to celebrate Earth Day and listen to what people think about how this Congress is handling the environment. Time and time again, I heard people say that they strongly favor measures to preserve our natural heritage and oppose efforts by Republican leaders to gut important conservation laws, like the National Wildlife Refuge Act that we're now considering. This bill will open up national wilderness areas to hunting and fishing, as well as make it more difficult to establish new refuges. This underscores why other environmental legislation we passed earlier this week was a mere figleaf to hide what the majority in the House do not want the American people to see--its unrelenting assault on our clean air, clean water, clean drinking water, and wilderness areas. No wonder Bob Herbert wrote in last Friday's New York Times that when you free associate about Republican leaders on the environment, ``life- affirming'' is the last term that comes to mind. Mr. Speaker, this week, while people in my district and throughout the Nation are stressing the importance of protecting the environment, Republican leaders are once again rejecting the American value of conservation. I urge my colleagues to vote no on the National Wildlife Refugee Act.”