Political Quotes

“In closing, I would like to point out something about the difference between State lands and Federal lands. I ran my State's Office of State Lands and Investments for a time, and the rights that are conveyed by States on lands to use their lands are very different than the rights that are conveyed by the Federal Government to users of Federal lands. In the case of State lands, frequently, they have many more rights, including, in some States, the right to exclude others. They have the right to make improvements on the ground. They have the right to acquire water permits. They have no NEPA requirements that are specific to the State land and other opportunities to, in fact, even sublease their lands. And those vary from State to State. States that grant more rights can acquire more revenue because it gives more flexibility to the person who is grazing. In the case of the Federal Government, there are burdensome regulations. There are third-party challenges. There are compliance issues. It is more of a command-and-control structure, so it is just not worth as much financially because of the tremendous paperwork and burden involved. Therefore, there are reasons for those differences. Mr. Chairman, the amendments we are proposing have nothing to do with that but offer commonsense solutions to the very important grazing issues. I yield back the balance of my time. The CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Mrs. Lummis).…”