On the recordJuly 20, 2017
I can say I don't support this because even though I had three bills in that package, I voted against it. It was a bad package going through. But the problem is that this amendment does nothing more than reinsert the language that caused the problem in the first place. This language is the reason that we don't have the solution right now. Remember, the solution was no action, not to do anything whatsoever. I understand sometimes we have distance issues that come here. The gentlewoman from Massachusetts has not an inch of BLM land in her entire State. Only 3 percent of the land is controlled by the Federal Government, which is much different than having 90 percent controlled by the Federal Government as in Alaska. I would contend that if there was any other area in the Nation--especially the eastern part of the Nation that had a situation like this--they would not tolerate this existing. They also had the ability of actually solving the problem on the local level, which is what they are asking in this bill to simply do. Eighty percent of these people are Native Alaskans. They don't have the lung power to come up here and express for themselves. They don't have the resources to hire special interest groups to come express for themselves. They are depending on us to do it for them.
