Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I want to join my colleagues in opposition to H.R. 1459, the Ensuring Public Involvement in the Creation of National Monuments Act. It sounds good, but it should be known as the ``Preventing New Parks Act.'' This bill would severely restrict this and any future President's authority to establish a national monument, eliminating a crucial part of our Nation's conservation strategy. In this current poisonous climate, the majority has made it nearly impossible for Congress to conserve land for future generations using the legislative process. This past Congress, in fact, was the first since World War II to not protect a single acre of land as a national park, monument, or wilderness area--not one single acre. Just last year, there was a significant bipartisan effort on the part of the President and others to designate the Harriet Tubman National Historical Parks Act, of which I am an original cosponsor, but that bill failed to even make it out of the committee--with public support and with family support, failed to make it out of committee. Just yesterday, we celebrated the first anniversary of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument located in my State of Maryland and designated as a national monument by President Obama using his authority under the Antiquities Act.…”