John Hansen: “President Clinton's Parks for Tomorrow plan represents an act of plagiarism. Of the 18 proposals contained in the…”

“President Clinton's Parks for Tomorrow plan represents an act of plagiarism. Of the 18 proposals contained in the President's plan, not a single one represents a new idea or concept. Rather, these are responses by the administration to acts of Congress, bipartisan proposals which have been circulating on Capitol Hill, in some cases for years, and even concepts which the administration has opposed, outright until recently. However, this is National Parks Week, and the administration wants to look like it is active, even if it has no parks agenda. So it has stolen other persons' ideas. In fact, over the last 3 rac{1}{2} years, the Clinton administration has sent a grand total of seven legislative proposals to Capitol Hill for action. Most of these proposals were for minor ministerial duties, such as increasing the development ceilings at a handful of parks, and authorizing the location of memorials to Thomas Paine and World War II on The Mall. Only one of these proposals previously submitted to Congress is even mentioned in the President's 18-point plan. In February 1995, the General Accounting Office testified before my subcommittee that the National Park Service was in a crisis. Drastic action was needed now to solve critical funding and other problems facing the agency. According to the Interior Inspector General, the National Park Service hadn't balanced its books in three years.”