Designating Certain Land As Components Of The National Wilderness Preservation System -- Motion To Proceed

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Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I am pleased to speak today on behalf of S. 22, the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act.

To call this legislation bipartisan is an understatement. This bill, as has been mentioned, contains over 150 individual provisions, sponsored by almost 50 different Members of this Chamber--nearly half. It represents every region of the country and has an almost equal number of bills from each side of the aisle. It will provide significant protection to existing public lands, improve recreation, cultural, and historic opportunities, and provide important economic benefits for rural economies such as in my home State of Idaho.

Every bill in the package has gone through regular order. Most have had multiple hearings and markups in the Energy Committee. All are fully supported by the committee chairman and the ranking member. In fact, many of the provisions, such as my top legislative priority--the Owyhee initiative--are the product of years of extensive collaboration at the Federal, State, county, and local levels, in conjunction with elected officials, tribes such as the Sho Pai, businesses, community leaders, outdoor enthusiasts, conservationists, ranchers, landowners, and other stakeholders.

Additionally, the package does not contain any bills that have a CBO score without an offset. This is not to say that the legislation is without controversy or that it is unanimously supported. Few pieces of legislation that pass through this Chamber are. However, while any omnibus package by nature will contain elements that are troubling to some, the Energy Committee has carefully negotiated the inclusion of each bill in this package to successfully reach a compromise on which all sides could agree.

As with my Owyhee wilderness legislation, not everyone got exactly what they wanted, but the broad array of collaborators achieved enough of their objectives to support the whole package and get behind legislation that offers significant improvement to land management practices and a reduction in decades-old conflict.

Similarly, this omnibus lands bill has broad support in every region of the country. As a result, on balance, this omnibus lands bill is widely supported and represents a diverse group of interests from every region. Recognizing this, I strongly urge my colleagues to vote in favor of cloture so that we can pass this legislation and move forward.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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