David Thomas: “just for a moment, I, too, cannot resist the opportunity to make some comment on what we have heard over the last few…”

“just for a moment, I, too, cannot resist the opportunity to make some comment on what we have heard over the last few minutes. I guess it is because I have heard it a half a dozen times since I came here to the Congress in 1989. Every year this same thing goes on, we go through this same business. Basically, the first decision you have to make is the question of, as the previous speaker said, ``highly subsidized grazing.'' Let me quote for you a study that was made by Pepperdine University. It was a comparative analysis of economic and financial conditions. It happened to be in Montana, between ranchers who have Federal lands and those who do not. These are just a few of the findings. Montana ranchers who rely upon access to Federal lands and grazing do not have a competitive advantage over other ranchers in the State. Livestock operators with direct access to Federal forage do not enjoy significant economic or financial advantages over ranchers who do not utilize Federal forage. It goes on and on. This is not my study; it is an academic study from Pepperdine University. The point of the matter is, there is a great deal of difference between what you buy in State lands and what you buy in private lands and what you get in public lands. The Senator was talking about comparing it to Arkansas. What do they get, 35, 40 inches of moisture a year? In Wyoming, we get 6 or 8. There is a substantial difference there.…”