[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 89 (Tuesday, June 22, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H4676]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           PRESERVATION: PROTECTING AMERICA'S TREASURED LAND

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, as I heard from my youth advisory committee 
visiting the Capitol today, urban sprawl has become a serious concern 
to Americans in many parts of the country, from the rural farm country 
in Lancaster and Chester County, Pennsylvania, to suburbs in the south 
and west.
  There are several ways that Congress can help to prevent further 
unbridled development, yet still keep individual freedoms intact.
  Today we will take one small step, through the Patriot Bill, to 
preserve land in Pennsylvania that is central to our American heritage. 
It is vital that we preserve two of our Revolutionary War treasures, 
the historic battlefields of Brandywine and Paoli. It will be a tragedy 
to lose this history to a housing development that now threatens the 
region.
  By the same token, we must also take a larger step to give 
individuals in this country incentives to preserve their farmland and 
open space. By eliminating such burdensome taxes as the estate tax, 
capital gains tax which threatens so many family farmers, we allow 
farms in coveted open space to remain intact.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote for farms and for open 
space. First support the Patriot Bill. Secondly, let us get rid of the 
death tax once and for all.

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