Thank you Mr. Chairman.
My working relationship with Chairman Calvert has been first-rate. He has carried out his duties in an open and collaborative manner. I have enjoyed working with him and appreciate the cooperation exhibited by Chairman Calvert and the subcommittee staff (Dave, Darren, Jason, Rachelle, Colin, and Jackie) as we have worked to address some of the important issues facing not only our nation but our planet.
It has been my privilege to serve on the Appropriations Committee for nearly 20 years. And while every bill this committee considers is important, I regard the Interior and Environment bill as vital to the survival of our planet. Literally, the very quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink depends on the programs funded by this bill. Communities depend on the protection of life and property that this bill provides from the ravages of wildland fire, and the safe and orderly development of public resources depends on the programs funded in this bill.
Millions of Americans make their vacation plans based on their ability to enjoy the natural, scenic, recreational, and cultural resources whose protection is funded by this bill. This bill also provides a lifeline for millions of Native Americans. And it contains a host of fish and wildlife programs that are vital to the survival of numerous plant and animal species. In this bill we fund the arts and humanities, the museums, and other cultural institutions that are important to our quality of life.
It is because of these urgent and pressing needs that I have been disappointed with the budgets that have been set for the past several years. We have tied ourselves up in a financial straightjacket that doesn’t allow us to meet the needs of today, yet alone lay the foundation for the future.
It has been compounded by those who think more about the next election rather than the next generation. We owe it to the generations to come to leave this earth a little cleaner and a little greener than we find it today. However, in many areas of this bill, we are just treading water. In other areas we are falling dangerously behind on the investments in our future.
Even as our needs have grown, this bill is more than $2 billion less than what was appropriated in fiscal year 2010. We are long past the point of asking agencies to do more with less.
We recognize the difficulties Chairman Calvert faced in crafting this bill. While at first glance the subcommittee’s 302(b) allocation of $30.220 billion appears higher than last year, when you factor in increased firefighting costs and the majority’s decision to fund the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) from discretionary appropriations, we are left with less funds overall than what the subcommittee received in FY 2014 to fund the many important agencies and programs in the bill.
As a result, important programs like the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) are badly underfunded and many other programs and agencies are flat-funded.
The most significant cuts in the bill center on the Environmental Protection Agency. It’s time to stop thinking of EPA accounts as a piggy bank for other agencies and programs in the bill. I recognize that with certain members there is a level of frustration with the management of the agency but I am deeply concerned that the magnitude of the cuts and the persistent push for more cuts each and every year has now weakened the very foundations of the agency and the important programs that it administers. When I hear folks say they want to rein in the EPA, what they really seem to be trying to do is rein in the protection of our air and water.
The bill includes robust funding for wildland fire, including $470 million to prefund the expected shortfall in FY 2014 fire costs. Total fire costs in the bill now exceed $4 billion. Without some relief from these costs, as proposed by our colleague Mike Simpson and endorsed by the Administration, fire is going to continue to take a larger and larger portion of the Interior and Environment budget.
We have identified 24 problem legislative riders and funding limitations contained in the bill, with five of these provisions being new this year. These provisions do not belong in the bill and their effect would be to undermine important environmental laws, threaten public health and safety, and deny the impact that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions have on our planet.
The legacy we leave to the future should not be one of diminished air and water, extinct species, and exhausted natural resources.
We are all part of the environment and attacks on the environment are attacks on us all. We protect nature, not for nature’s sake, but our own sake. As the late distinguished Member of the House Morris K. Udall once noted: “The more we exploit nature, the more our options are reduced; until we only have one: to fight for survival."
We appreciate the bipartisan support and funding for Native American programs. To the best of our ability we are trying to meet our obligations to Native Americans and I would note the work in this regard of our colleagues, Rep. McCollum and Rep. Cole who have been strong and consistent advocates for Native American programs.
Mr. Chairman, despite the high esteem I have for Chairman Calvert, I can’t support the bill as currently written. Today is just the first step in a long process towards enactment. I certainly intend to continue working with Chairman Calvert and other members to seek improvements to the bill so that in the end we can have a final legislative product that has bipartisan support.
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
