Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator from Washington for her leadership on our great public lands and the bill, the Great American Outdoors Act, that we will be voting on this week and debating into next week. What an historic occasion for the U.S. Senate. We don't often have the chance to make history. This week, we do. So thank you to the Senator from Washington. June is, of course, the Great Outdoors Month. Since 1998, when President Clinton started with 1 week of the Great Outdoors Week, it has since expanded and has been observed every year, beginning with those Great American Outdoors Weeks in 1998 to the entire month of June celebrating that we do today. This week, we are debating landmark legislation, the Great American Outdoors Act, that brings two ideas together that have been worked on by so many of my colleagues in this Chamber for so long. I introduced this legislation with Senator Manchin, along with so many other bipartisan champions for the outdoors and our great public lands and spaces. The Great American Outdoors Act combines $1.9 billion a year for 5 years for deferred maintenance at the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, which is now headquartered in Grand Junction, CO, and the Bureau of Indian Education schools, and permanent annual funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the crown jewel of our conservation programs, at $900 million per year.…”