Continental Divide Trail Completion Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEWHOUSE. Madam Chair, I thank my friend from Arkansas for allowing me to speak on this important issue.

Madam Chair, rural communities across the country are plagued by persistent drought and catastrophic wildfires, especially communities in the Western United States. As the Representative for Washington's Fourth Congressional District and as chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, I have been consistently calling for these issues to be taken up in committees and here on the House floor.

In one sense, I am very glad that our colleagues from across the aisle are finally realizing just how crucial these issues are, but I am disappointed by the fact that today's rushed package of provisions fails to address the root challenges that we face in the West and ignores a myriad of solutions that were offered by my Republican colleagues.

Rather than fixing our broken, duplicative requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act, this package adds more regulation and bureaucratic red tape. Rather than enhancing opportunities for long-term water storage infrastructure and offering any type of lasting solutions for forests and species management, it focuses on adding environmental studies and prioritizing environmental justice.

Madam Chair, my colleagues and I submitted numerous amendments that would actually solve these problems--to encourage additional water storage, active land forest management, commonsense reforms to the Endangered Species Act, and critically needed domestic energy and timber development. Unfortunately, Madam Chair, Democrats refused to even let these amendments be considered for debate.

This bill fails to address the actual problems facing rural communities and will likely exacerbate the very issues Democrats claim the bill addresses.

Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this legislation.

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