Semiquincentennial Tourism and Access to Recreation Sites Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, next year our Nation will celebrate its 250th birthday. H.R. 4285, the STARS Act, would mark that milestone on September 17, 2026, by providing free entrance to National Park Service sites and waiving standard amenity recreation fees to sites managed by the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S. Forest Service.

I fully support helping more Americans experience our public lands and will be honored to support this bill. However, it is hard to ignore how hollow this gesture feels when it comes alongside the ongoing Republican effort to undermine access to these very places.

While we may be hearing how treasured our public lands are from my colleagues today, some of their actions paint a different picture.

Republicans are slashing the already underfunded land management agencies' budgets. Republicans are firing hardworking Americans who keep our public lands open and safe. Republicans are trying to sell off our public lands for a quick buck.

Republicans are working to undo protections for national monuments, trying to block updates to outdated resource management plans, and pushing reckless development for extractive industries no matter the public health or environmental consequences.

Republicans are attacking bedrock environmental and historic preservation laws, attempting to erase and rewrite history in our public lands, and working to turn our public lands into prisons and detention centers.

Americans deserve better. They deserve public lands that are open, well cared for, and honest about our history, not just a few symbolic gestures and a free entrance day every now and then.

It is our responsibility to care for our public lands, to support the people who care for them, and to ensure they reflect the full and robust history of everyone who shaped this country. That is how we can honor the past and ensure our public lands remain places that future generations of Americans can learn from and enjoy.

Democrats will continue to stand up for our Federal workforce and to fight to protect Americans' public lands.

Mr. Speaker, I urge support for this bill and reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. RANDALL. Mr. Speaker, I am enthusiastically in support of this policy, but I think I have to underscore, again, that our public lands belong to all Americans, as the previous sponsor mentioned, regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic status, or background.

The stories preserved at sites like Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial in my district serve as powerful reminders of what happens when we allow fear and prejudice to override our values of inclusion and justice. In this moment in our history as we celebrate the semiquincentennial of our Nation, we are also watching history attempt to repeat itself with the rounding up of Americans and the rounding up of folks living in this country who are being persecuted in our streets and on our public lands.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation and urge all my colleagues to support it, as well. I also urge us to learn from our history and to move forward more equitably.

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