Taxpayer First Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Utah for yielding. I know that was painful.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in favor of the Great American Outdoors Act. It makes sense to me that, if we are going to have public lands and preserve public lands for Americans, we should also take care of it. That is why the LWCF funding and deferred maintenance part of this bill are very important and a perfect combination.

With that in mind, I wrote the LAND Act in 2017, which funded these two programs without using a dime of taxpayer money.

Fast-forward to 2020 and the President specifically asked Congress to send him a bill that funded both these programs and that he would sign it.

Thanks to Senator Gardner, Senator Daines, Senator Heinrich, and Senator Manchin, the Great American Outdoors Act built upon the LAND Act and passed the Senate with 73 votes, which brings us to this historic day.

The Great American Outdoors Act creates 100,000 jobs, preserves public lands for future generations, and cares for our current national parks and trails. All this is funded by energy revenue and the existing $20 billion fund--again, not taxpayer dollars.

The bill does not expand the Federal footprint because 99 percent of the LWCF purchases are within existing public lands.

The bill does not force anyone to sell their property since it is willing seller and willing buyer.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this bill not for me and not for you, but for future generations so that they can enjoy our great outdoors.

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