[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 137 (Saturday, September 28, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11659-S11660]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         THE PARKS LEGISLATION

  Mr. NICKLES. Madam President, one thing I would urge my colleagues--
and particularly leadership on the Democrat side in the Senate--would 
be for us to work together to pass the parks bill. Time is growing 
very, very short. I know that some of our colleagues--we have a lot of 
colleagues who are retiring this year--have bills that they would like 
to get passed. And a lot of these bills are very, very important.
  I have had the pleasure of working with Senator Bumpers and Senator 
Pryor on one bill, the Arkansas and Oklahoma land exchange. Senator 
Pryor is going to be retiring. I would like to pass that bill before he 
retires.
  Senator Bradley has worked very, very hard on Sterling Forest, as 
well as Senator Moynihan, and others; Senator D'Amato. Sterling 
Forest--we need to pass these bills. The Presidio is maybe the best 
known of any of these parks, a beautiful area in San Francisco. A lot 
of work has gone into the Presidio legislation. I know the Senators 
from California and others are committed to it. The Senator from 
California would like to have passed the Presidio legislation, and I 
really want to do that.
  Senator Heflin has a couple of bills, and other colleagues who will 
be leaving. Many of these bills--I guess I will still be around, and 
some of us will be here next year. Maybe we can take care of them at 
that time. But a lot of our colleagues will be leaving.
  I see Senator Nunn has a couple of provisions.
  Most of these are not controversial. I really hope that we can get a 
comprehensive package before the Senate and pass it. We need to pass it 
today while the House is still in session.
  So I would just urge our colleagues. I know the Senator from Alaska, 
Senator Murkowski, has worked a long time on a long list of projects. I 
hope that we can get these through.
  So I just ask for bipartisan cooperation. This is not a partisan 
bill. It is a bill that those of us on the Energy Committee have worked 
on all year.
  Maybe it is not a very good way to legislate when you end up having a 
bill like this come toward the end of the session. But there have been 
holds on this bill for months.
  Anyway, I just urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to be 
cooperative to see if we can't pass the Presidio bill and the land 
exchanges. There are a lot of positive things. I saw, I think, over

[[Page S11660]]

a dozen projects in California. A lot of these are environmentally very 
sensitive and important. I know there are eight in Colorado that 
likewise are important; a couple in Arizona; Alaska has several.
  There are a bunch of projects in here that I think will improve the 
Park System in the country that will have strong bipartisan support. If 
we can ever get this bill to a vote my guess is that it will pass if 
not unanimously very close to unanimously.
  So I hope that we could do that, send it to the House, and hopefully 
get it on the President's desk before the 104th Congress adjourns sine 
die.
  Mr. FORD addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky.

                          ____________________