Political Quotes

“Thank you for letting me join the conversation. The argument here is not against whether I would want or other Members would want cancer-causing items or would want to have the degradation. The problem is the degradation in our public parks and lands. We have an $11.5 billion backlog in our national parks right now. Inexplicably, the Land and Water Conservation Fund does not allow for the maintenance of what we have. The U.S. Government currently manages 29 percent of the land mass in the United States. We have a multibillion dollar backlog, including in our national treasure, which is the national parks that are out there. This amendment that I have, and which others are proposing, is to simply say: Before we keep adding land--at least at the same rate we are adding more land--we should be maintaining that land. It is equivalent to if you are going to buy car, you need to at least set aside some money to pay for gas. All that we are asking for is something that has been asked for now for a long time through multiple committees and multiple hearings, and that is, that as we engage in purchasing new property, we also make sure we are setting aside dollars from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to actually maintain what we are purchasing. The dollars that are there already are a $20 billion amount that is set aside for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The fund continues to function under the current CR.…”