On the recordAugust 4, 2020
I am here on the floor today to talk about some positive news and some positive news that happened just today. It is not about the coronavirus. It is not about politics. It is not about Hurricane Isaias. It has to do with some urgent and historic help for our national parks, something that is really important to all of us. We all love our parks. Today President Trump signed into law the landmark Great American Outdoors Act, landmark, bipartisan legislation that will protect and conserve our public lands. I am happy to see this effort finally cross the finish line because the natural beauty and rich history of America is something that we must preserve for future generations. A big part of the new law is bipartisan legislation that is called the Restore Our Parks Act that I have worked on for more than 3 years with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Senator Mark Warner from Virginia was my partner in this, as well as Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Senator Angus King of Maine. Our legislation involves urgent stewardship of our national parks, which is something that I have spent more than a dozen years working on. I guess I shouldn't admit that. Sometimes things take a long time around here. But going back to my days as Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush, I started focusing on this issue of the backlog of maintenance projects at our national parks. It is alarming. It has been growing.…
