Steven Holt: “I thank the gentleman very much. This, as we have heard, is a package of bills dealing with lands, and it is as partisan…”

“I thank the gentleman very much. This, as we have heard, is a package of bills dealing with lands, and it is as partisan as can be. I wish that we were working in a bipartisan way. We could have a real lands package that would go somewhere. We could have addressed preservation of open space. This is important all across the country. I often hear from my colleague from Utah and others that, well, people in New Jersey don't have a lot of Federal lands. Let me tell you, this is important for people in New Jersey and every one of the other 49 States and in the territories of the United States. My constituents, who live in the most densely populated State in the Union, have demonstrated again and again their support for open space preservation, for fighting sprawl, for providing for their kids and their kids' kids with safe places to experience the outdoors. This legislation does so many bad things I hardly know where to begin. It's another attempt to remove most of the protections of environmental laws. And as you've heard from the ranking member, Mr. Markey, it establishes an intrusive domestic security enforcement zone, a drone zone. Call it cute if you want, but as the ranking member said, if you're going to go to Big Bend or Acadia or any of the other national parks that fall in this, you'd better pay attention. It will do nothing to make us more secure. I could talk all day about the problems in this bill, but let me just focus on one.…”