On the recordOctober 8, 2015
this Land and Water Conservation Fund has been around for 40 years. It has $20 billion built up in reserve. The authorization, as it is expired at this point, only changes the amount of money coming into it. We are still doing the same projects. Literally, this fund has 65 years worth of reserve built into it. What we are trying to find is some way to be able to help protect the lands that we already have. We are adding more lands. We are not doing maintenance on the lands. We have an $11 billion maintenance backlog just in our national parks. So I do have a concern that we are continuing to add more lands, and we are not taking care of what we have. There is not an immediate emergency need for this because the fund continues to operate. We are just not adding new dollars into it in the days ahead. But, again, we have about 65 years of reserve currently in it. So we are not in a hurry. We do want to be able to get this right, though, on how we actually maintain our lands as well as actually do purchasing or State entities do--whatever it may be--so I do object. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard. The Senator from Washington.
