Russ Feingold: “today, as a part of the celebration of Earth Week, I join with my other colleagues who have come to the floor calling…”

“today, as a part of the celebration of Earth Week, I join with my other colleagues who have come to the floor calling for a renewal of this body's longstanding bipartisan commitment to the Nation's environment. I am doing so because, following the 29th Earth Day celebration tomorrow, the Nation and the 106th Congress will begin planning to commemorate three decades of Earth Days this time next year. We need to begin now to shape and bring forward a positive environmental agenda which will earn the support of both political parties so that when the 30th Earth Day arrives, our actions to protect the environment will not be viewed as falling short of the mark. At the beginning of this Congress, I wrote to the majority leader and the Democratic leader with suggestions of legislative areas where I believe significant opportunities actually exist for bipartisan cooperation. Among the areas I highlighted was the environment; specifically, the protection of public lands, such as passing comprehensive natural resources funding legislation which would allow the States and the Federal Government to protect our land resources, designating new wilderness areas on our public lands, and reforming environmentally harmful subsidies that damage our lands and also hurt the American taxpayer.”