Political Quotes

“I rise for the purpose of entering into a colloquy with the senior senator from Oregon and ranking member of the Finance Committee in regards to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. As the senior senator from Oregon knows, the Land and Water Conservation Fund was created in a bipartisan manner to help safeguard national parks, rivers, lakes and critical habitats for wildlife in all fifty States. Over the years, the Land and Water Conservation Fund has helped protect some of our Nation's most treasured places. Two such places are located in Delaware. They are the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge and the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge. Now that Delaware has a new national park--the First State National Historical Park--the State has even more opportunities to take advantage of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. As you know, every year, some of the royalties from drilling for oil and gas on public lands are paid into the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Despite over $900 million coming into the fund every year, only about one-third of that amount actually goes toward conservation. The funding is diverted elsewhere, despite the huge unmet need across our country to safeguard national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, rivers, lakes, and critical wildlife habitat. Two weeks ago, I sought to bring an amendment up for a vote on S.…”