David Obey: “this bill deserves to be stopped dead in its tracks. It is an absolutely lousy bill. The best way to stop it is to…”

“this bill deserves to be stopped dead in its tracks. It is an absolutely lousy bill. The best way to stop it is to defeat the rule that will allow its consideration. There are a lot of things wrong with it, but the worst thing in the conference report is the provision which relates to the moratorium on mining patent claims which is an abomination under the guise of reform. The conference agreement lifts the existing moratorium and allows mining companies, many of which are foreign owned, to gain title to Federal lands containing valuable hard rock minerals for a pittance. It will result in billions of dollars being pocketed by mining companies without payment of any royalties to the owner of the land, the U.S. taxpayer. This, in my view, is a travesty left over from the political stone age. The original law that permits this outrage, this outrageous raid on the Treasury, was enacted in 1872. If my old colleague Bill Proxmire were still representing Wisconsin in the other body, you can be sure that this provision would be the recipient of one of his Golden Fleece awards. The magnitude of this giveaway is incredibly hard to grasp. Let me give you one example. Just last year the Interior Department signed away land containing an estimated $10 billion in gold for less than $10,000. The so-called reform in this bill would mean that it will only cost $100,000. The land is now owned by a U.S. subsidiary of a foreign-owned corporation.”