Military Construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. COLLINS. Thank you, Mr. President.

It is such a pleasure to join my colleagues in supporting legislation that would provide a short-term extension for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and I think you can see by the breadth of the number of Senators on the floor on the Republican side of the aisle supporting this extension that this program has widespread support from Montana to North Carolina, to Tennessee, to New Hampshire, to the great State of Maine. All of us have come together to urge the Senate not to allow this important conservation and recreational program to expire.

It was 50 years ago that the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act established America's most successful conservation and recreation program. The fund was designed to assure that outdoor recreation lands would be secured on a pay-as-you-go basis for future generations. As we mark this anniversary, it is inconceivable to me that we would allow this successful and valuable program to expire.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund is arguably our most important and successful program of this type. There is nothing else like it, and it has widespread bipartisan support. While the funding for this program could continue to be appropriated beyond the September 30 expiration date, the authority to collect new revenue into the fund would expire. So we must act quickly today to reauthorize the LWCF so we do not lose the important connection between the funding stores for this conservation program and the program itself.

Investments in this landmark conservation program expand assets to the outdoors to all Americans. We are living in a time where so many children and so many teenagers are spending all of their time inside before computer screens and tablets and iPhones. This is the program that helps ensure that they have access to recreational activities outside--the great American outdoors. The Land and Water Conservation Fund has created numerous outdoor recreational opportunities in every single State in the Nation and 98 percent of the counties across our great country. It is funding that will open key areas for hunting, fishing, and other recreational access to support our working forests and ranches, to acquire inholdings and protect critical lands in national parks, national wildlife refuges, national forests, Civil War battlefields, and other Federal areas that are so special to our heritage, and to support State and local projects from ball parks to recreational trails.

If you have a bike trail, a ball park or a hiking path in your community, it may well have been constructed with funds from the Land and Water Conservation Program. I support the permanent reauthorization of the program that has been introduced by Senator Burr and believe that Congress has an obligation to make good on the promise that was made to the American people back in 1964 to take the proceeds from natural resource development and invest a portion in conservation and outdoor recreation.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has favorably reported a bipartisan bill that would permanently extend the program. A short-term extension is needed now to provide the time over the next few weeks for us to work together to achieve that permanent authorization and consistent funding for this program and to help ensure that the fund plays the strongest possible role in helping to revitalize local communities for another 50 years.

I remain committed to working with Senator Daines, Senator Burr, and the other leaders in this area, along with the bipartisan coalition that truly spans the country to support creating a more stable long-term plan for the LWCF that allows landowners, States, local communities, and conservation partners to plan for the future recreational and conservation opportunities for our country. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this 60-day extension.

Thank you, Mr. President. Again, I thank the Senator from Montana for organizing this colloquy and the Senator from North Carolina for his leadership in this area.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source