Malcolm Wallop: “so $125 million is a lot more than the Secretary says is needed. And I have found with the Secretary that times are…”

“so $125 million is a lot more than the Secretary says is needed. And I have found with the Secretary that times are fluid; that he can say whatever is necessary to be said to achieve whatever result is necessary to achieve without regard to the studies of his own department. Mr. President, let me lay to rest some issues. I would say to both Senators from California, inasmuch as they are here, that they are dead wrong about my intentions on hunting and mining. I think they have a point. A ban on hunting is not included in the amendment, as drafted, but that would clearly be easily done. So it is not an issue. And neither is the mining issue, because my findings are precisely the findings of S. 21. BLM does not operate for the purpose of doing anything except what it is charged with doing. And under the provisions of national monument status, they would have to manage it essentially as the Park Service will manage it but for a couple of things. Talk about transferring resources from the BLM, the Secretary is not God. The Secretary requires the actions of Congress. He cannot just, willy-nilly, flip the funds around among line items in the Department of the Interior. And he will find some who are on the Appropriations Committee who object to taking money from the BLM and transferring it. He cannot do it unless Congress does it.”