Mike Enzi: “I rise to speak about the Great American Outdoors Act that we may be debating this week. I am hoping that we can find a…”

“I rise to speak about the Great American Outdoors Act that we may be debating this week. I am hoping that we can find a responsible way to pay for the maintenance backlog of our national parks. Our national parks are an important source of pride for our country. They are known internationally. We had the first national park in the world with Yellowstone Park. Unfortunately, our parks are in the midst of a rising crisis that has been building over many years. They are in desperate need of repair and maintenance and fixing them will require billions of dollars. This week, the Senate is working on legislation to address this backlog, and I believe it is vital that we address this issue both responsibly and permanently. This will help generations to fix problems in our parks without having to put the cost on the Nation's credit card. We can pay now or we can make our kids pay through reduced Federal help and services that we are used to, or we can figure out a way to have a small fee now. It should be a pretty easy choice. Unfortunately, the Great American Outdoors Act, as written, represents only a one-time fix and is neither responsible nor permanent. Instead, the bill adds over $17 billion to our national debt. Moreover, the measure includes a permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Program, which will add even more future maintenance to our already backlogged systems without being paid for.…”