George Miller: “I would hope that the House would again reject this rule since this rule is contrary to the rules of the House in that…”

“I would hope that the House would again reject this rule since this rule is contrary to the rules of the House in that it provides for substantial legislation on an appropriation and protects those items of legislation on an appropriation against a point of order that would ordinarily lie against those provisions under the rules of the House. So we are not quite complying with the rules of the House as the majority has suggested that we are. But it is also because the changes that they seek to make are devastating to the programs. This legislation that historically has been about the stewardship of this Government of the public's lands, the lands that are owned by the taxpayers and the citizens of the United States of America, public lands that are used by some 300 million visitors this year, public lands that have attracted millions of tourists from other countries to the United States to visit our parks, to visit our wilderness areas, to visit our historical sites, it has been the charge of this committee to provide the resources to take care of those lands. What we see now is for the first time in 40 years, this committee has failed to discharge its duty to the public in the kind of funding that it provides. This committee has gone far beyond just the issue of the budgetary issues. This committee has gone off in a fit against activities that they do not like. They do not like the Endangered Species Act.”