[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 26 (Thursday, March 10, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
            LETTER TO SECRETARY BABBITT RE: RANGELAND REFORM

  Mr. WALLOP. Mr. President, yesterday on this floor, I read a March 3 
memo from Kevin Sweeney, Director of Communication at the Department of 
Interior, which was addressed to the offices of Senator Reid, 
Congressman Vento, Congressman Synar, and Congressman Miller regarding 
the Secretary's proposed rangeland reform proposal. The memo indicated 
that the Department would mold its press release on the new plan around 
any changes that the group cared to make by stating:

       * * * I realize you will meet tomorrow to discuss the 
     proposed rule. If that meeting leads to substantive changes 
     in the standards and guidelines section, the press release 
     will of course change as well.

  Today, I received a copy of a letter signed by the above four 
lawmakers in which they critique and comment on a February 20 draft of 
the rangeland proposal provided to them by Secretary Babbitt.


                                Congress of the United States,

                                    Washington, DC, March 4, 1994.
     Hon. Bruce Babbitt,
     Secretary, Department of the Interior, Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Secretary: We have reviewed the February 20, 1994 
     draft of proposed regulations to implement your Rangeland 
     Reform '94 program. We appreciate your assurance that our 
     comments will be considered in further developing these 
     proposals.
       As you know, we believe strongly that your previous 
     rangeland reform proposals were very sound. We worked hard 
     last year to support those proposals against attacks from 
     opponents who have no program but to prevent much needed and 
     long overdue change. We recognize that many important 
     elements of the original reforms have survived and in some 
     ways have been refined in the current draft.
       It is with this history of support for your efforts and for 
     comprehensive range reform, and with the candor of friends 
     and allies, that we inform you we are deeply troubled by 
     several major aspects of the February 20 draft that are 
     radical departures from your previous proposals and from the 
     Reid compromise and that result in a package that will 
     undermine the effectiveness of the range reform initiative.
       In this letter, and the accompanying memorandum, we are 
     expressing our concerns, objections, and questions about the 
     February 20, 1994 draft provided to us. We have been 
     informally advised that there is a later version 
     incorporating several modifications of the February 20 draft, 
     but that has not been provided to us and so we are confining 
     our comments to the February 20 draft.
       We understand that you view the February 20 draft as still 
     achieving a net improvement over current law--a much more 
     modest goal than that of your original proposals. 
     Regrettably, we are not convinced that it meets even that 
     minimal standard.

     

                           *   *   *   *   *
  Mr. President, there are no leaks here as reported. This memo clearly 
shows that Secretary Babbitt gave one Senator and three Members of the 
House of Representatives license to review and rewrite parts, if not 
all of his rangeland reform plan.
  Mr. President, one Senator and three House Members do not a consensus 
make. I am deeply disappointed and angered. We cannot move forward in 
this atmosphere of apprehension and mistrust.

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