Chellie Pingree: “We are now only 15 days away from a government shutdown, and instead of focusing on keeping the government open, we are…”

“We are now only 15 days away from a government shutdown, and instead of focusing on keeping the government open, we are working on a bill that is going nowhere. The draconian cuts proposed in this bill violate the agreement reached by former Speaker McCarthy and President Biden and that were memorialized in statute in Public Law 118-5, the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. We would not be teetering on the brink of a government shutdown if my Republican colleagues had held up their end of the bargain. We are here to protect the welfare of the American public, and we cannot close our eyes to the impacts of climate change, such as the drought, flooding, severe storm, and wildfire events we are experiencing. As of October 10, the United States has experienced 24 confirmed weather/climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each. This is a new record. This amendment seeks to prohibit funding for the Bureau of Land Management to finalize, implement, or enforce a Draft Resource Management Plan and draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement that would remove 1.6 million acres of public lands in Colorado from future oil and gas leasing. These lands do not have high oil and gas potential, and BLM's actions would protect the important wildlife habitat, recreation areas, and water resources, as well as reduce emissions and the impacts of climate change.…”