Waiving Points of Order Against Conference Report on H.R. 2361, Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the gentleman from Florida, for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, when this House first considered the Department of Interior appropriations bill, I came to the floor to express my deep outrage that this legislation nearly eliminated funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

I join with my colleagues, the gentleman from New York (Mr. King) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt), in urging that the House and the Senate conferees restore some level of funding for this vital program. I am pleased that 119 Members shared our concerns about this funding cut and signed on to our bipartisan letter. Mr. Speaker, I will insert the letter for the RECORD at the conclusion of my remarks.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund has been an enormous help to our local communities and the families who live in them. The Stateside grant program has helped to preserve open space, slow urban sprawl, and give our children safe places to play.

It is a true partnership with Federal grants requiring a full match from States and local communities. In all, the stateside program has helped communities by funding 40,000 projects nationally. Success stories can be found in every State and in 98 percent of U.S. counties.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund is especially near and dear to my heart, having led the fight on the floor of the House back in 1999 to restore $30 million for the stateside grant program in the fiscal year 2000 Interior appropriations bill after it had been zeroed out in 1995.

In my district, the Land and Water Conservation Fund State assistance grants have provided much-needed funds to restore the historic Worcester Common in Worcester, Massachusetts, and renovate the Briggs Pool in Attleboro, Massachusetts. We have literally preserved dozens of acres of open space that otherwise would have been sold off for development that would not have been conducive to these communities. It has also helped to complete construction this coming fall with the Princeton playing fields in Princeton, Massachusetts.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund is based upon a simple concept. It takes revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling and invests them in our Nation's public land, letting States take the lead. For 40 years this program has a proven track record and benefited from strong bipartisan support.

It was the same bipartisan support that proved successful here today. Clearly the level of funding provided in this bill is far from what is required. In fact, the level of funding is at the same level it was when we resuscitated the program back in 1999. So I am disappointed with that. However, any amount appropriated to this program, no matter how small or large, serves a valuable purpose.

I commend my colleagues for their hard work. I thank those who helped reinsert funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund back into this bill. I hope that we can come to some sort of consensus that next year we will restore funding to a level that is adequate, and to a level that we all promised our constituents.

Mr. Speaker, I will insert for the RECORD the letter I referred to earlier.

CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES,

Washington, DC, July 22, 2005.

DEAR CONFEREE: We are writing to request that, as you move toward conference with the Senate on the FY 2006 Interior Appropriations Bill, you support the funding levels that were included for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) in the Senate passed version of the bill.

Since its creation in 1964, the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has been a critical source of funding for the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Forest Service. This funding is used to support the acquisition and maintenance of our national wildlife refuges, parks, forests, and public domain lands.

In addition, the LWCF also funds a matching grant program to assist states and localities in acquiring recreational lands and developing facilities. An integral part of the LWCF, the state-side matching grant program has provided state and local parks and recreation directors with the desperately needed funding to help preserve open space and develop recreational facilities. Over the years, these matching grants have been used successfully to fund more than 37,000 state and local park and recreation projects, enabling millions of Americans to hike through magnificent scenery and view historic sites, bike along seaside and river trails, and picnic and play ball at local parks.

The Senate-passed FY 2006 Interior Appropriations Bill provides $192 million for LWCF, which includes $30 million for the state-side grant program and $162 million for the federal program. This funding is absolutely essential for the proper stewardship of our nation's magnificent natural heritage, and therefore, we strongly urge you to maintain the funding levels for LWCF state-side and federal grant programs provided for in the Senate bill. Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,
Jim McGovern, Rush Holt, Peter T. King, Jim Marshall, Robert E. Andrews, Michael H. Michaud, Michael M. Honda, Howard L. Berman, Rahm Emanuel, Barbara Lee, Donald M. Payne, Dennis J. Kucinich, Joseph Crowley, Richard E. Neal, Henry Cuellar, Rob Simmons, Rosa L. DeLauro, Shelley Berkley, Allyson Y. Schwartz, Melvin L. Watt, John Spratt, Jim Oberstar, John Lewis, Nick Rahall, Scott Garrett, Dan Lipinski, Mike Doyle, Betty McCollum, Harold Ford, John T. Salazar, Jim Langevin, Leonard L. Boswell, Elijah E. Cummings, Lloyd Doggett, Gene Green, Nancy L. Johnson, John Shimkus, Jo Bonner, Spencer Bachus, Mike McIntyre, Julia Carson, Vito Fossella, Adam Smith, Doris O. Matsui, Solomon P. Ortiz, Brian Higgins, Silvestre Reyes, Tammy Baldwin, Mike Thompson, Charles F. Bass, Tim Holden, Jay Inslee, Frank Pallone, Jr., Martin Meehan, Juanita Millender-McDonald Ike Skelton, Grace F. Napolitano, Sander Levin, Jerrold Nadler, Bernard Sanders, Chris Van Hollen, John B. Larson, George Miller, Tom Lantos, Gary L. Ackerman, Jim Matheson, Sherwood Boehlert, Ed Case, Raúl M. Grijalva, Dale E. Kildee, Jim McDermott, Earl Blumenauer, Jim Saxton, Dennis Cardoza, Carolyn McCarthy, Michael R. McNulty, Ellen O. Tauscher, Timothy H. Bishop, Edolphus Towns, Peter DeFazio, Anthony D. Weiner, John D. Dingell, Sherrod Brown, Wm. Lacy Clay, William Delahunt, Louise Slaughter, Barney Frank, Robert Menendez, Eliot L. Engel, Bobby Scott, Ben Cardin, Tom Udall, Janice Schakowsky, Bart Gordon, Lynn Woolsey, Stephen F. Lynch, Donna M. Christensen, Thomas Allen, Thaddeus G. McCotter, Lois Capps, Emanuel Cleaver, Mike Ferguson, Bart Stupak, David Price, Lane Evans, Carolyn B. Maloney, Jeb Bradley, Steve Israel, Pete Stark, Bob Etheridge, Mark Udall, Sue W. Kelly, Jerry F. Costello, Luis V. Gutierrez, Christopher Shays, Mike Ross, Charles A. Gonzalez, Neil Abercrombie, Anna Eshoo.

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