John Fleming

Now, first of all I will ask. This is a two part question, and I would love to hear from anybody on the panel on this.

If we put that back into congressional approval we could make it statutory where access would be required.

For many of us, our families have been here for generations, and we wish to have a Florida that our descendants may enjoy in similar fashion.

The production levels have dropped and they continue down.

I want to take issue, and maybe this is a distinction without a difference, Ms. Jacobson, with your statement that this is not taxpayer money.

The USDA seems to have a much better grasp on conservation, whereas the Department of the Interior seems to embrace preservation.

So you are proposing to spend that money without congressional authority.

Let me say that I remain disappointed that the Service has been unwilling to support the need for a Congressional authorization of new national wildlife refuges.

It is my hope that the Service will provide us with assurances, if not a guarantee, that wildlife dependent recreation will be permitted within the entire Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge if it is created.

That is precisely why I voted against the Budget Control Act, because I knew we would be here today talking about these problems.

$465 billion in cuts that you are barely able to swallow and now we are talking about plussing that up to maybe a full trillion dollars over 10 years.

As we draw down and as we come out of Afghanistan and other places, it is imperative that we continue to improve our jewels of our training programs.

Chair Sutley, you made the comment, and I want to get clarification to be sure, that nothing in this would restrict activity in the oceans.

I want to revisit this question of constitutionality that the Chairman brought up.

My constituents are becoming increasingly angry that the President is making all the laws and all the legislation and creating all the rules.

Yes. OK. Excellent. I thank you for that. And I have no further questions.

I think having the public buy in, and some of the models that you have with Ducks Unlimited is an excellent way to both finance and also to make people good stewards of the land and the resources that are there.

Is it good stewardship to, in essence, create a refuge and then ignore it?

We are going out at a time when we are running deficits of $1.5 trillion plus.

I thank Chairman Fleming, Ranking Member Sablan, and the members of the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs for their time and consideration of this non-controversial legislation.

If we are going to put our taxpayers on the hook for this kind of massive expenditure, at a minimum we should be willing to authorize those land acquisitions.

The Subcommittee will come to order.

It has been cosponsored by 46 Members of the House, including myself.

These two bills appear to meet that criterion.

This protection is critical for pro-life and religious health care providers and entities. EMTALA, which is part of the discussion here, requires that health care providers such as myself must take care of women and must take care of their…