John Mica: “it is really a great honor and privilege to serve in Congress, but it is also an important responsibility. And tonight…”

“it is really a great honor and privilege to serve in Congress, but it is also an important responsibility. And tonight as we conclude our work on the Department of the Interior appropriations bill, we make a bunch of choices. We decide whether we are really going to do things because we are dealing with the people's moneys and expenditures of public funds. Tonight we decide whether we are going to spend money on administration. Tonight we decide whether we are going to spend money on studies. Tonight we decide whether we are going to spend money on various new programs. My amendment simply takes $15 million from the USGS, U.S. Geological Survey, which has an increase of $112 million in this budget over the previous years expenditures and says, we will put this into the State/ Federal land acquisition fund. Earlier tonight we had 177 votes for people who believed in a State and Federal acquisition land program. This is not a Federal land acquisition. This is the money when you come to the Department of the Interior and they say there are no funds. But let me tell you what you will have if we do not pass my amendment. You will have studies--and I have nothing against the U.S. Geological Survey and their responsibilities since 1879 to conduct studies, and if we expand it another $100 million. I am only taking a small amount of that money for a purpose that I think is reasonable. Let me ask you, what will we do, 10, 20 years from now?”