Chellie Pingree: “This amendment would prohibit all funds to the United States Board on Geographic Names. The U.S. Board on Geographic…”

“This amendment would prohibit all funds to the United States Board on Geographic Names. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names is a Federal body created in 1890 and established in its present form by public law in 1947 to maintain uniform geographic name usage throughout the Federal Government. The Board is comprised of representatives of Federal agencies concerned with geographic information, population, ecology, and management of public lands. In this age of geographic information systems, the internet, and homeland defense, geographic names data are even more important. The Board works with Federal, State, Tribal, and local agencies, and more than 50 nations have some type of national names authority. My Republican colleagues should be focused on creating bills that will garner bipartisan support and become law, not prohibiting funding for a board that helps surveyors, mapmakers, and scientists, and serves the Federal Government and the public as a central authority to which name problems, name inquiries, name changes, and new name proposals can be directed. I urge my colleagues to reject this amendment. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.”