Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendments to H.R. 146, Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009
Floor Speech
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF SENATE AMENDMENTS TO H.R. 146, OMNIBUS PUBLIC LAND MANAGEMENT ACT OF 2009 -- (House of Representatives - March 25, 2009)
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Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Madam Speaker, House Resolution 280 provides for consideration of the Senate amendments to H.R. 146, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. The rule makes in order a motion by the chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources to concur in the Senate amendments to H.R. 146, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. The rule provides 1 hour of debate on the motion controlled by the Committee on Natural Resources.
Madam Speaker, today, people across the country are looking to this body to pass this important bill. We have an historic opportunity to protect and preserve land across the country for future generations. Our grandchildren and their grandchildren will be able to enjoy national parks around the country.
In Maine, my district, like so many other areas around the country, we cherish the natural beauty that surrounds us, and we have worked hard to preserve it. When I was the Senate majority leader in the State of Maine, I sponsored the biggest land bond bill in State history to preserve our open spaces for the public.
Time and again, the people of my State have voted to invest in public land that will be protected for generations to come, and we value the full variety of uses of that land, whether it be hiking, camping, kayaking, hunting, or fishing.
We are here today to consider the Senate amendments to H.R. 146, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. These amendments provide us with the opportunity to strengthen our National Park System, improve forest health, facilitate better management of our public lands, and increase the quantity and quality of the water supply in numerous local communities.
This is not the first time this body has voted on this legislation. On March 11, a bipartisan majority of the House voted in favor of the Omnibus Lands Management Act. Unfortunately, it narrowly failed to obtain the two-thirds vote to pass the House. Last year, the majority of the bills that make up this package were passed out of the House but were held up in the Senate by a threatened filibuster.
Finally, this year the Senate voted twice--each time overwhelmingly in favor of this package. Our time to send this legislation to the President's desk is long overdue.
This package will provide protection to historic and cultural resources that include the sacred ground of American battlefields. In addition, it will protect our forests, our water, our network of trails. It will add to our National Park System and provide land that we can all enjoy.
By finally passing this legislation today, we will designate over 2 million acres of land as wilderness. This means that when our grandchildren want to take their families to see what America looked like in its wild state, they will be able to. And they will be able to explore these lands because we are not closing off or preventing access to land.
Instead, the wilderness designation helps manage the various uses, and this legislation recognizes that some areas are better suited for some kinds of recreation than others.
This act also provides protection to historic sites like the Harriet Beecher Stowe House in my State of Maine, where this courageous abolitionist wrote ``Uncle Tom's Cabin.'' Future generations will be able to see and use this site and others protected by this legislation.
This legislation before us is a product of bipartisan efforts that recognize how critical it is to conserve our land and ensure that the American people have access to that land. Land is one of our most precious resources and we must do our part, not only for our use but for future generations.
This legislation protects areas for outdoor recreation. It preserves land for hunting, fishing, and other recreational activities. Not only does this package protect some of the most environmentally significant and scenic land in the country, it also provides protection for our Nation's water resources and keeps our Wild and Scenic Rivers undammed and free flowing.
Taken as a whole, this package is truly landmark legislation. The amendments incorporate bipartisan bills introduced by the last Congress--39 by Democrats and 36 by Republican Members of the House.
Finally, as good a piece of legislation as I think this is, the debate before us is simply on the rule to debate the underlying bill. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle may argue that this did not go through regular order, or this limits second amendment rights, or that it somehow excludes our honored returning vets from accessing public lands, but all of those arguments are simply untrue.
Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Will the gen tle lady yield?
Ms. PINGREE of Maine. No, I won't.
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this very important public lands bill.
I reserve the balance of my time.
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Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Madam Speaker, let me be clear on two things. Nothing in this bill in any way limits or restricts access as defined by the ADA. Nothing in H.R. 146 changes the status quo in regards to regulation of hunting, fishing and recreational activities in designated areas.
I would like to enter into the Record a letter from the National Rifle Association supporting the Altmire amendment to the omnibus public land management bill.
I will also submit for the Record a full editorial in today's New York Times, and I would like to read briefly from that editorial.
``This bill establishes three new national park units and protects more than 1,000 miles of wild and scenic rivers and streams from development. But what makes it a memorial piece of legislation are provisions giving permanent wilderness status, the highest layer of protection the law can confer, to 2 million acres of public land in nine States ranging from California and Oregon to Virginia. This would be the largest addition to the nation's store of protected wilderness, now about 107 million acres, since 1994.
``The bill has broad bipartisan support in Congress and the country at large. But after surviving a threatened filibuster in the Senate in January, it failed by two votes in the House, partly for complex parliamentary reasons and partly because some House Members felt that not all the measure's moving parts (the bill is really 160 smaller bills wrapped into one big one) had been properly vetted in committee.
``This is a defect that afflicts many omnibus bills. It is also true, however, that every single provision in the bill is a product of long and intense negotiations stretching back years on the State and local level, and the product, that is, of consensus.
``The measure is now back in the House after a second trip through the Senate. It has been approved each step of the way. Its most controversial provision for a road through a wildlife refuge in Alaska has been revised for the better. It now gives the Secretary of the Interior the power to veto the road if he feels it would cause excessive environmental damage.''
The New York Times closes by saying, ``The House should honor all of this work, as well as the country's need for protected open space, by approving this worthy measure.''
This legislation has been through the House and the Senate numerous times in one form or another. The items in the bill have been thoroughly vetted. Most, if not all the House provisions have had extensive hearings, committee markups and been passed by the full House. The bill is a bipartisan product that contains language sought by Members on both sides of the aisle. That was reflected in the last week's suspension vote of 282-144 here in the House. The Senate vote was 77-20. Any changes at this point would require that the bill goes back to the Senate, where further action is very unlikely. It is time to pass this widely supported bipartisan legislation and send it to the White House for the President's signature. I urge a ``yes'' vote on the previous question and on the rule.
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