Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, I commend my colleague from Idaho (Mr. Simpson) for the great work that he and his committee did in giving us this appropriation bill. I also commend the minority and everyone who spent so much time on the floor working through these amendments. Everybody will be glad to know that this is the last one. It is a great one, and I hope everybody will support my amendment.

Mr. Chair, I obviously support my amendment, which prohibits funds from being used to implement the Biden administration's ocean justice strategy, which undermines the intent of the Ocean Policy Committee by forcing so-called environmental justice principles into the Federal Government's role in ocean economic activities.

In 2018, then-President Trump signed Executive Order No. 13840, which established the Ocean Policy Committee. The Ocean Policy Committee, co- chaired by CEQ and the Office of Science and Technology Policy, was created to focus on growing the ocean economy, prioritizing scientific research, coordinating resources and data sharing, and engaging with stakeholders.

The committee was codified into law through the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021.

The Ocean Policy Committee should be working on important issues, such as leveraging resources and expertise to maximize the effectiveness of Federal investments in ocean research. Unfortunately, this administration has chosen to advance a misguided agenda that is not focused on the founding tenets of the Ocean Policy Committee to grow the ocean economy. Instead, it is pushing concepts like the ocean justice strategy, which forces environmental justice principles into the Federal Government's ocean activities.

Ocean justice or environmental justice should not be used to hijack legitimate work that benefits the American people. It cannot and should not become a driving force and detrimental tool to impede our Federal resources management.

For those reasons, I support and urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this amendment.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, the Ocean Policy Committee should focus on addressing the issues that it was actually created to address--most importantly, streamlining Federal coordination.

This administration's push of this ocean justice strategy is just another example of unchecked bureaucrats forcing their agenda on Americans and increasing red tape.

My amendment stops them from moving forward. Our ocean economy is as diverse as the ocean itself, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to managing it. The problem we have with Federal programs is they take a different course from how Congress intended for them to go. This isn't cutting funds from the Ocean Policy Committee. It is just forcing the Ocean Policy Committee to do the job that they were established to do without adding unnecessary burdens to their work.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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