America's Conservation Enhancement Reauthorization Act of 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. WITTMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for his leadership on the committee and for his efforts to make sure that the America's Conservation Enhancement Reauthorization Act comes before this body and ultimately gets signed into law.

The act is better known as the ACE Reauthorization Act, and ace it definitely is. It is the ace that we need in our hand to make sure we are there on the side of our natural resources across this Nation.

This pivotal piece of legislation signifies our commitment to preserving the natural beauty of our great Nation while promoting sustainable practices for future generations. As a lifelong outdoorsman, I am committed to ensuring all Americans have the opportunity to get out and enjoy the outdoors, from the Pacific Ocean to our wonderful national treasure, the Chesapeake Bay.

This legislation, which has been amended to contain my House Natural Resources-passed companion language, provides authorization for some of the most effective conservation programs in the history of this Nation.

This bill would reauthorize the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, which protects waterfowl, fish, and wildlife resources across this Nation and, most importantly, preserves critical wetland habitat, which is disappearing at an alarming rate.

It supports local economies that depend on outdoor recreation, tourism, and agriculture. It also preserves American traditions, such as hunting, fishing, bird-watching, family farming, and cattle ranching.

Mr. Speaker, this is one of the most successful public-private partnerships in the history of this Nation. This program leverages more than $2 of private money to $1 of public money. All of these dollars come from sportsmen, whether it is through buying a duck stamp to go hunt waterfowl or just to enjoy doing bird watching, which we know our colleague from Virginia enjoys quite a bit of.

It is incredibly impactful for this Nation to understand that also, on the public side, these dollars from duck stamps are matched with sportsmen who are passionate about these resources, whether it is the waterfowl, the shore birds, or the wetland habitats, and organizations like Ducks Unlimited and Delta Waterfowl. Those organizations work tirelessly to raise these dollars, and all of these go to preserving that critical habitat.

We know today in our Nation these wetland habitats are disappearing at an alarming rate. Our ability to set aside these lands in our national wetlands inventory through our National Wildlife Refuge System is incredible. We use all kinds of tools to do that. Whether it is through purchase of the property or whether it is through purchase of development rights, conservation easements, they are really effective tools to make sure we preserve this critical habitat.

The other part of the ACE Reauthorization Act is reauthorizing the National Fish Habitat Conservation Through Partnerships Act. We know our States do a wonderful job of focusing on critical fish habitat and working to preserve those. This bill allows them to do even more with Federal partners to make sure they are working in unison with local governments and local organizations to do even more to preserve that critical habitat.

Also, as co-chair of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Task Force, I know how crucial it is to protect our national treasure, the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay is not only the largest estuary in the United States but also a critical ecosystem that supports diverse wildlife and provides economic benefits to millions of Americans.

In fact, I would argue many folks here in the Washington, D.C., area on a daily basis enjoy the wonderful natural resources from the Chesapeake Bay. If you go to a restaurant and happen to order a crab cake or an oyster, it most likely came from the Chesapeake Bay.

I am proud that this bill also reauthorizes the Chesapeake Bay Program, a successful Federal and State partnership that coordinates efforts to reduce pollution in the bay.

Mr. Speaker, if there is a poster child for a Federal role under the Constitution, it is the Chesapeake Bay Program because it truly is an interstate program. It is about getting all the States to work together to make sure we are in unison in improving water quality in the Chesapeake Bay. This is, indeed, that constitutional direction on interstate cooperation that is allowed under the Constitution to achieve what is critical not just to this Nation but also to our natural resources.

The Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network Act is also a critical part of this. It supports efforts to improve the conditions of habitats and enhance public access to the bay and its rivers. We know what an incredibly important economic engine the Chesapeake Bay is. This enhances the ability for folks to enjoy the Chesapeake Bay, to learn more about it, and to have those opportunities there that not only create richness in life for the people who enjoy the bay but also for the communities that seek their livelihood from the bay.

The Chesapeake Watershed Investments for Landscape Defense Act, another part of the ACE Reauthorization Act, helps local entities rehabilitate fish and wildlife habitats throughout the bay watershed.

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Mr. WITTMAN. This ACE Reauthorization Act is truly a testament to our commitment to future generations and to the treasure of the natural resources that this Nation has at its avail. It ensures that our children and grandchildren will inherit a world that is as rich in biodiversity and natural beauty as the one we cherish today.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support America's Conservation Enhancement Reauthorization Act.

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

It is incredibly valuable, I think, for folks across the Nation to understand that America's Conservation Enhancement Reauthorization Act is really one of those efforts where we take a lot of separate bills which by themselves do a lot of good, and we bring them together to do even a greater good. With that, we also are able to look at how these programs relate to each other. Our effort at this level is to make sure that we coordinate and that we look at how do we utilize resources.

These bills are critically important because it is not just about utilizing Federal resources. In fact, I would argue, with these bills it is actually more about leveraging the opportunities and the resources we have at the State and local levels because these bills are incredibly important to localities across the Nation. They are incredibly important to the experience that we all have as Americans in enjoying these natural resources. That is why the ACE Reauthorization Act, I think, has such far-reaching impacts on our Nation.

It is great that today we can come together in a bipartisan way and say we are in favor of this. This is one of the places where we know working together we can get things done that are in the best interests of our communities and the best interests of our States and Commonwealths across the Nation.

We understand, too, that as much as sometimes people focus on the things that we disagree on, there are some pretty significant things that we agree on.

Today is one of those days where we look at this, and we say these bills are all about a greater good. They are really about enhancing the quality of life in our communities. They are about achieving things that we look to do in common with each other. We look for the private sector to leverage the dollars that are there, people that want to participate in these programs that have really been shown to be a success across the spectrum through the years and that leverage resources.

We look today at the challenges we face in the Nation about a deficit in resources that come in versus the resources that go out. This is one of those programs where it really is a success story about how we take a small amount of Federal dollars that come from sportsmen that voluntarily pay for these dollars, and they leverage it with private dollars. What a great example of a successful program.

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