Rob Portman: “I am on the floor to talk about the historic opportunity that is before this body this evening and throughout the week…”

“I am on the floor to talk about the historic opportunity that is before this body this evening and throughout the week to be able to help us get our national parks back on track. These are our treasured national parks that are such a great asset to our country, and right now they are in trouble. One of the bills before us this week, in what is called the Great American Outdoors Act, is the bipartisan Restore Our Parks Act. It directs Federal funding from royalties on oil and gas leases and other energy leases to Federal lands. It directs that funding to our national parks to take care of deferred maintenance. Why is this investment needed? Thanks to the wisdom of Teddy Roosevelt, who had the foresight to set aside and preserve some of our most spectacular land for public use, and thanks to so many friends of the parks who have followed, America's national parks are without equal. The National Park Service and its system now comprise 84 million acres of land and historical sites that now attracts 330 million visitors every year. In fact, from 2006 to 2017, annual visitation in our parks increased by about 58 million people. They are popular. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear there is a lot of demand to be in the out-of-doors. And so I believe as we start to reopen our parks this summer, which we will do soon, Americans will be all the more eager to go out to our parks and explore our country's natural beauty and explore its history.…”