Steven Holt: “I would like to thank my colleagues from the Natural Resources Committee for working with me to bring this bill to the…”

“I would like to thank my colleagues from the Natural Resources Committee for working with me to bring this bill to the floor today, our bipartisan bill, which is the American Battlefield Protection Program Amendments Act. I was pleased to work with Chairman Hastings and Chairman Bishop and Ranking Members Markey and Grijalva to move this bill through our committee, and I would like to thank the majority and minority staffs for their hard work. The bill before us today reauthorizes the American Battlefield Protection Program, which is a competitive grant program that matches Federal dollars with private money to preserve historic war sites. H.R. 2489 builds on the success of the Civil War Battlefield Protection Program, which has preserved Civil War battlefield sites. The legislation also expands the grant program to include over 670 historic battlefields and associated sites from the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Since 1996, when the Battlefield Protection Program was first authorized, the program has helped preserve many important sites, including, for example, the Fort Gregg, New Market Heights Battlefield in Virginia. {time} 1630 In fiscal year 2011, a protection grant helped preserve a 7.2-acre property best remembered because of the unquestioned valor of the African American Union soldiers who fought there.…”