Maria Cantwell: “I rise to speak a few minutes about the public lands bill we just voted out of the Senate with a pretty resounding…”

“I rise to speak a few minutes about the public lands bill we just voted out of the Senate with a pretty resounding majority of Members. Within that public lands bill we just voted on is the only wilderness designation, the one my colleague from Washington just described--the Wild Sky Wilderness area. And I am here to not only congratulate her on this important legislation but to also speak because so much was said prior to the vote about why we would have such legislation on the Senate floor, and about the issue of Federal lands in individual States. I think my colleague from Washington just articulated exactly why such an important piece of legislation is needed, the fact that it is the designation of a wilderness area that she has been trying to get ever since I have been in the Senate. In fact, she mentioned 9 years she has been working on that legislation. Since at least 2001, I have seen this legislation in various forms move through either the House or the Senate. I am sure her enthusiasm today is about the prospect of the Senate and the House, under Democratic control, actually getting this legislation passed. But let me make a couple of points because my colleague, Senator Murray, brought up this issue, the specifics of Wild Sky's designation. It is a beautiful place. I have had the opportunity to hike there and to see the beauty firsthand. But people don't understand the designation of these Federal lands.”