Russ Feingold: “I rise today to support also the amendment offered by my colleague from Illinois, Mr. Durbin. I am proud to join him in…”

“I rise today to support also the amendment offered by my colleague from Illinois, Mr. Durbin. I am proud to join him in this effort and to be an original cosponsor of his amendment. My colleague from Illinois seeks to make certain that amendment language offered by the Congressman from West Virginia, Mr. Rahall, which would prohibit drilling for oil and gas and mining in our national monuments is included in the Senate bill. The Rahall amendment passed the House overwhelmingly by a vote of 242-173. Madam President, I support this amendment because I believe that to not speak loudly against the Bush administration's proposals to re-open many of these monuments under the guise of our present energy concerns is a dereliction of responsibility for this body and this Senator. It is the responsibility of this body to review areas designated as national monuments to determine whether or not additional designations should be conferred--such as creating a national park or a wilderness area out of lands administratively protected as a monument.”