On the recordFebruary 16, 2017
For the third week in a row, Republicans are back on the floor of the House of Representatives seeking to overturn environmental protections for our Nation's deeply valued public lands, this time attacking wildlife protections for iconic species living in national wildlife refuges in Alaska. This is not a new issue for me or my constituents. My late husband, Senator Paul Tsongas, helped write the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980. He worked on a bipartisan basis with Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska to craft legislation that balanced conservation with responsible economic development for Alaskans, including oil exploration, mining, timber harvesting, and sport hunting. But he also stated on the Senate floor, back in 1980: ``Nature made the wilderness and wildlife in Alaska majestic during hundreds of thousands of years. Man''--and, I would add, woman--``is challenged merely to respect and preserve that natural majesty.'' He also spoke on the Senate floor about conversations at the dinner table with our then 6-year-old daughter, who asked what her father was doing to protect endangered species. Well, our daughter has grown now, but here we are 37 years later in Congress debating if that bipartisan law crafted with my late husband allows hunters to shoot bear cubs and wolf pups in their den on a national wildlife refuge.…
