George Miller: “the supporters of banning American citizens from volunteering for the USGS are simply not being candid with the Members…”

“the supporters of banning American citizens from volunteering for the USGS are simply not being candid with the Members of this House. They say that the volunteers may be biased. Does that mean that people who they want to volunteer for the migratory bird count are not biased? Are the environmentalists who go out and count for migratory bird count, are they undercounting the birds so the shooting limit will be less? Are the gunners who go out and count for the migratory bird count, are they overcounting the birds so the limits will be higher, the seasons will be longer. You trust those people. But you do not trust the Boy Scouts who gave 1,000 hours in Wisconsin. You do not trust 32 veterinary students who volunteered the time of three full-time employees to do autopsies on animals. You do not trust them. The gentleman from California [Mr. Cunningham] comes down here and talks about some conspiracy of bias, and he is sponsoring legislation and pushing for legislation to let us accept science from industry. Something is going on here. What is going on here is a very, very extreme agenda about taking American citizens who are interested in the environment out of the equation. This amendment now says you must be qualified and supervised, you cannot go on to private land without the invitation of the owner. So it is not a property rights issue. It is not a competency issue.”