Chellie Pingree: “This amendment is one more controversial poison pill policy rider that sadly shows extremist Republicans are not…”

“This amendment is one more controversial poison pill policy rider that sadly shows extremist Republicans are not interested in bills that can gain bipartisan support and become law. 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 in partnership with Federal, State, Tribal, and local agencies and more than 50 nations have some type of national names authority. My Republican colleagues should be more focused on creating bills that will garner bipartisan support and become law, not prohibiting funding for a board that helps surveyor, 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. Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to reject this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.”