Reintroduction of 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, in honor of the recent celebration of Arbor Day, I rise to reintroduce my bill, the 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps Act of 2019.

In drafting this bill, I was inspired by the original Civilian Conservation Corps, first established by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 as part of his New Deal. This effort put 3 million young people between the ages of 18 to 28 to work. They planted 3.5 billion trees, established more than 800 new parks, improved or constructed over 90,000 acres of campgrounds; blazed hiking trails, assembled bridges, built rustic cabins and hiking shelters, and mitigated the devastating impact of the Dust Bowl across the Great Plains.

America is facing significant environmental crisis from deforestation, soil, air, and water pollution, loss of biodiversity, waste disposal, climate change, and a depleted ozone. Luckily, Americans are once again connecting the dots between clean water, clean land, clean air, and thriving regional ecosystems and economies.

With recent attacks on programs that help our environment, we must remember we don't have to choose between protecting our environment and natural treasures and creating jobs. We can do both at the same time.

Just Ohio and Michigan, alone, need 20 million new trees planted to make up for the devastation that the emerald ash borer and Asian longhorned beetle have done to our forest populations.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill and its goal of putting Americans to work across our country. Its efforts will once again revive America's natural landscape and enrich the lives of millions of enrollees in the stewardship of our natural resources forward.

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