Outdoor Legacy Partnership
Floor Speech
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Ms. BARRAGAN. Mr. Speaker, today Congress will consider the EXPLORE Act. It is a bipartisan bill that will improve outdoor access and recreation opportunities for Americans.
This legislation includes my bill, the Outdoors for All Act, which updates the Outdoor Legacy Partnership program and codifies it into law.
I am proud to lead this bipartisan bill with my House colleague, Representative Michael Turner. With Outdoors for All, we protect the urban park funding in the Outdoor Legacy Partnership program. We modernize the program to include Tribes, smaller cities, and to fully account for the benefit parks provide.
Access to urban parks and the outdoors is a bipartisan issue because every community wants parks for its residents. Urban parks are good for our economy, our environment, and our physical and mental health.
However, not every community has access to parks, especially low- income communities and communities of color. This is a challenge in my district in Los Angeles, where far too many kids cannot walk to a park.
Now, this disparity is personal. When I was a kid, I grew up in the Harbor Gateway. I had to take a bus to go to baseball practice because there was not a field I could walk to.
My district also includes the L.A. Harbor community of Wilmington, which has the highest concentration of refineries throughout California. Close to 20 percent of the total land area in Wilmington is occupied by refineries. For context, that is 3\1/2\ times more than is available for parks and outdoor space.
With passage of the Outdoors for All Act, we can fund new trails, parks, green spaces, and playgrounds to bring nature's benefits directly to our communities.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the coalition of environmental groups, outdoor recreation advocates, businesses, and local governments that have worked day in and day out to support this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I also thank Natural Resources Chairman Westerman and my friend, Ranking Member Raul Grijalva, who have worked together on today's bipartisan outdoor recreation package.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the EXPLORE Act and to work with the Senate to get a strong outdoor recreation bill passed this Congress.
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