George Miller: “this, I think, as was just demonstrated in the previous testimony, is why this bill should be rejected. The gentlewoman…”

“this, I think, as was just demonstrated in the previous testimony, is why this bill should be rejected. The gentlewoman from Idaho talked about the outer zones and the inner zones in these Heritage areas. What she did not talk about was the twilight zone, where the support for this legislation comes from. It comes from those individuals who believe that there is some worldwide conspiracy of the U.N. to take over U.S. lands. The gentlewoman kept saying that the U.N. controlled 55 million acres, would take control of these lands. Mr. Speaker, our colleagues do not get a right to just stand up here and misrepresent the laws of the United States and what legislation does or does not do. The fact of the matter is, long before there was ever the U.N., there was the United States Congress that designates these lands as national parks or other assets of the public lands of the United States. Then, sometimes, we ask for the honor of being designated as part of the international heritage provisions. What does that do? Very often, in the gentlewoman's State she represents, that drives up tourist receipts. People travel from all over the world to see these, whether it is the Everglades or whether it is Yellowstone, or the other assets within the United States. We really have got to separate fantasy, absolute fantasy, by a group of people that are trying to find a way to beat up on the U.N. and what the laws of this Nation are.”