Rob Bishop: “Now, we have heard a lot about this particular fund and the difficulty it has and some exaggerations as to where it…”

“Now, we have heard a lot about this particular fund and the difficulty it has and some exaggerations as to where it actually goes, what it actually does. The problem is severalfold, one of which is that since 1994 there has been no clearinghouse of information. We do not know what has been funded. We do not know what has been used. We do not know what has been abused. And repeated requests to try and find that information have fallen on deaf ears. In this CR, which is for a limited time, this particular provision would, once again, as I heard other people saying yesterday, raise attention to this issue and give someone a reason to actually give that information. It is estimated in the last 15 years there have been around 1,100 lawsuits, and that doesn't even include administratively brought actions that go before Interior Land Boards, and within the Forest Service. So all of those are part of the situation. I heard some great speeches about how this would hurt poor people. And he's actually right, except you're not looking at who are the poor people who are hurt with the current situation.”