Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for yielding me the time. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the amendment, specifically, a provision in here taking a trail in Wisconsin and turning it into National Park Service unit status. This proposal before us has not been introduced as a standalone bill this Congress and has not been heard by the Natural Resources Committee. We have not discussed the impacts of elevating this trail to National Park Service unit status, and there have been no hearings to afford local officials or adjacent landowners the opportunity to express their views. Too often in this body, we see Members who represent urban constituencies rushing to expand Federal control over rural communities far from their own homes. And too often, these decisions marginalize the voices of people in the affected communities who must live with the consequences: Federal land management agencies in Washington, D.C., imposing new limitations on access, use, and impacts to private property owners. Mr. Speaker, we have also spent much time in this body discussing the Park Service maintenance backlog, which is significant. We should be mindful of that backlog and the fact that land managers lack sufficient resources to care for the units already under their supervision. I am also concerned that the passage of measures like this one will further fuel the Federal Government's insatiable appetite to annex yet more private property.…”