Colorado Wilderness Act of 2021

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the amendment, specifically, a provision in here taking a trail in Wisconsin and turning it into National Park Service unit status.

This proposal before us has not been introduced as a standalone bill this Congress and has not been heard by the Natural Resources Committee. We have not discussed the impacts of elevating this trail to National Park Service unit status, and there have been no hearings to afford local officials or adjacent landowners the opportunity to express their views.

Too often in this body, we see Members who represent urban constituencies rushing to expand Federal control over rural communities far from their own homes. And too often, these decisions marginalize the voices of people in the affected communities who must live with the consequences: Federal land management agencies in Washington, D.C., imposing new limitations on access, use, and impacts to private property owners.

Mr. Speaker, we have also spent much time in this body discussing the Park Service maintenance backlog, which is significant. We should be mindful of that backlog and the fact that land managers lack sufficient resources to care for the units already under their supervision.

I am also concerned that the passage of measures like this one will further fuel the Federal Government's insatiable appetite to annex yet more private property. And more Federal land ownership means further erosion of the property tax base, higher local property tax burdens, and strained local budgets.

Let me give you this analogy. A homeowner, their roof is falling in. The lot next to them comes up for sale and they say, gosh, I have got to buy that lot, and they don't take care of their own home. That is, in effect, what we are doing with our national parks here in the United States of America.

To be clear, I believe that Wisconsin is home to some of this country's most special places, including this scenic and picturesque trail. On this fact, my Wisconsin colleagues and I agree.

But I believe this amendment is the wrong approach, Mr. Speaker, and I would encourage a ``no'' vote on the amendment and the bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source