[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 3 (Friday, January 5, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E23]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E23]]


           INTERIOR APPROPRIATIONS ACT--VETO OVERRIDE ATTEMPT

                                 ______


                               speech of

                         HON. CHARLES H. TAYLOR

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 4, 1996

  Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, we have all heard from our 
constituents about the Government shutdown. Closure of our National 
Parks and Forests has attracted a great deal of attention. In my 
district--where we have National Park Service units and national forest 
land--over 500 Federal workers have been furloughed. Those that are at 
their jobs are working without pay.
  However, the situation is even worse for those who rely on visitors 
to western North Carolina for their business. Concessioners, for 
instance, are private enterprises and are losing money because of the 
reduction in tourists to our area. These people will not receive the 
back pay that the Federal workers will be getting.
  I was extremely disappointed that President Clinton vetoed our bill 
on December 18. As you know, we worked very hard to craft a bill that 
the administration could support--one that addressed the concerns 
expressed by various administration Representatives. I don't know if 
the President was even aware of what was in this bill--I think he 
simply vetoed it to pander to the more radical environmental groups who 
claimed it would severely damage the environment.
  But of course these claims are completely false. This bill does not 
harm to our natural resources; in fact, it addresses many concerns 
expressed by this administration.
  This bill increases funding for the National Park Service's 
operations and maintenance. We are well aware of the backlog of needed 
projects in our National Parks--basic projects like updating the sewage 
system at Certain Park sites or upgrading Visitor Centers. This bill 
will allow those projects to be completed.
  This bill also provides additional funds for our country's Native 
Americans. The administration requested $110 million more be added to 
the Senate's $3.5 billion for Indian affairs. We added $137 million 
more.

  We restored the mining patent moratorium that the administration 
requested.
  We lowered the ceiling on logging in the Tongass National Forest from 
450 million board feet to 418 million board feet.
  In fact, we responded as best we could--give the severe budget 
confines of this bill--to all the administration's concerns. And yet, 
President Clinton vetoed the bill and jeopardized the livelihood of 
thousands of Americans.
  We keep hearing that a clean CR will fix the current situation. This 
is not true. A CR is simply a temporary solution. This bill is the true 
cure. Rather than keeping Federal workers at these Federal agencies 
guessing about whether they will be shutdown in 2 weeks and then 
another 2 weeks for the rest of the fiscal year, this bill will fund 
the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service for the remainder 
of the fiscal year--9 months rather than 2 weeks.
  Again, I cannot be sure that the President knew of the wonderful 
things we had in this bill. He listened to the radical leftwing 
environmental community and vetoed this bill to pander to them. Let us 
not continue this terrible travesty. Support this bill, vote to 
override the President's veto and let us put these fine men and women 
back to work.

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