[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 144 (Monday, October 12, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H10665]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      OMMISSION FROM THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD OF OCTOBER 10, 1998

  A portion of the following debate was inadvertently omitted from the 
Congressional Record of October, 10, 1998:

                              {time}  1815

  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  (Mr. MILLER of California asked and was given permission to revise 
and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, it is with a great deal of 
regret that I object to the passage of S. 2095 as amended by our 
counterparts on the other side of the aisle.
  Historically, the excellent programs of the National Fish and 
Wildlife Foundation have had strong support of Members of Congress on 
both sides of the aisle since the foundation's inception in 1984. I 
supported similar legislation to this as introduced and as reported by 
the Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans last 
October.
  Unfortunately, the amendments adopted by the Committee on Resources 
that have now been attached to this Senate bill have transformed what 
would have been a straightforward reauthorization of a popular program 
into a partisan platform for objectives to undermine the Endangered 
Species Act.
  In particular, the amendment adopted by the committee which is now 
attached to this bill would prohibit the foundation from funding any 
activities related to the reintroduction of the wolves or the grizzly 
bears in Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. While this may seem like a 
narrow exception, it seriously undermines the fundamental integrity of 
the foundation's ability to do its job.
  The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is an established, 
competitive grant-making organization with a long history of funding 
successful conservation programs throughout the United States. The 
amendment that has been established to this legislation really 
questions whether Congress should now be getting into the second-
guessing of these programs.
  Let me say that the foundation has not funded any grizzly bear 
reintroduction efforts, though it has funded research and education 
programs on the prevention of human being/grizzly bear interactions. In 
addition, the foundation was awarded less than $100,000 worth of 
projects related to the reintroduction of wolves.
  For those reasons, I reluctantly oppose this legislation, because 
this has been an outstanding organization, with many, many people who 
have served on the board of directors, who have given an inordinate 
amount of time and money and have secured really significant amounts of 
private contributions to the ongoing efforts of both the programs 
sponsored by the Federal government, State governments, local 
governments and the private sector.
  I would hope that we would not now start trying to micromanage this 
agency with Congressional amendments, given their track record of 
success both in creating programs that are highly successful, with a 
great deal of local support, and also in creating the kind of private/
public partnership that we so often say we want.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SAXTON. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers at this time, and 
I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Brady of Texas). The question is on the 
motion offered by the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Saxton) that the 
House suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill, S. 2095, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the 
ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a 
quorum is not present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 5, rule I, and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

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