Jim Baird: “I simply rise to congratulate my dear friend and colleague, Congressman Larsen, for his tireless efforts on this. This…”

“I simply rise to congratulate my dear friend and colleague, Congressman Larsen, for his tireless efforts on this. This bill has been around for several Congresses. It has had wide bipartisan support. And as my friend, Mr. Inslee, said, this was done the right way. Mr. Larsen held countless hearings, met with virtually every imaginable interest group. There were compromises, sometimes difficult, sometimes painful compromises. But in the end, we have a truly remarkable area of land set aside. And, Mr. Larsen, our friends in the other body, Senator Murray and Senator Cantwell, worked very vigorously on this, and I congratulate them. And, as Mr. Inslee did, I also want to congratulate the many citizen groups who worked so hard on this. I encourage my friends on the other side to recognize that no bill will be perfect, but this is about as good as you are going to get. This is an area definitely worth preserving, and the people on the ground support it, by and large. It is one thing to say that it is nice for people to set aside wilderness in their own area and not other areas, but doesn't that converse also apply in not opposing an effort of someone to set aside a wilderness in his own area? I would think the reasoning would suggest that it would, and I urge support from both sides of the aisle on this. I would just finally conclude with this. It is not possible for us to construct or build new wildlands. We can't do that; it is not within our power.”