Orrin Hatch: “much has been made about Utahns and how they feel about these issues. But my colleagues might say they do not know what…”

“much has been made about Utahns and how they feel about these issues. But my colleagues might say they do not know what Secretary Babbitt has to say about our proposal. That makes 100 of us, because, frankly, I do not know. I do not know what specific problems the Secretary has with our bill. I do not know what his specific thinking is on the water language, the military overflight section, the section dealing with cultural and archeological sites found within designated areas on the State's school trust land exchange, proposed in the bill. I do not know how he might modify them. Honestly, I do not know. I have used the term AWOL, absent without leadership, on this floor in recent months to describe the administration's efforts in addressing our drug problem. This strategy of criticizing without putting anything positive on the table was also evident during consideration of the budget. It seems to be typical of the Clinton administration across the board. To date, the Interior Department has not even sent us the letter in which Secretary Babbitt says he will recommend a veto of the omnibus package if the Utah wilderness bill is included. I suppose the Secretary assumed that we would have the privilege of reading his letter in the newspaper, which of course we have. I do not know why the Secretary has not tried to work with us in order to come to an agreement on the many critical issues contained in this measure.”