On the recordDecember 12, 2014
I rise in strong opposition to the motion to refer, which would remove the public lands title from the Defense authorization bill. Like some of my colleagues, I think an appropriate place to start today is to thank Chair Landrieu and Ranking Member Murkowski for their efforts on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. They worked so hard to come up with a package that could actually move in this divided Congress. The bills in this package have been the subject of incredibly long debate. Many of them, such as the bill we just heard about from my colleague in Maryland, have been under consideration for years. Almost all the bills included in the public lands package have received hearings in either the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee or the House Natural Resources Committee, and almost all of the bills were favorably reported by these committees. For example, every provision in the lands package relating to a national park designation or expansion and every provision designating Federal land as wilderness in this package was closely considered by the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and cleared the committee with bipartisan support. I should note that many of these provisions were not only the subject of committee hearings in this Congress and markups in this Congress but in previous years as well. The public lands title is the product of lengthy negotiations with the House, with both Republican and Democratic priorities included.…
