[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 126 (Tuesday, October 1, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H6920-H6921]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Rehberg). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, we have many, many difficult and complex 
issues that we each face every day. We just heard from the gentlewoman 
from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), my friend and colleague, about war. Most of us 
spend probably the majority of our time, or at least the largest 
percentage of our time, dealing with economic growth and recovery, 
jobs, and what we need to do to help attract or keep companies in our 
district, and the regulatory issues, and many other things. We also 
work regularly on other issues that come up. For example, I am chairing 
a hearing Thursday on the West Nile virus which has particularly hit my 
hometown hard. We just had an hour debate on moral issues.
  But in addition to these kinds of issues, we deal inside the Federal 
budget with an incredible array of issues. I would like to address one 
tonight that is in danger of being overlooked as we address the big 
issues that are in front of Congress.
  Former President Theodore Roosevelt once said: ``Nothing short of 
defending this country during wartime,'' which is now, ``compares in 
importance with the great task of leaving this land a better land for 
our descendants than it is for us.''
  His legacy was the National Park system. I want to talk a little bit 
about the financial pressures on our National Park system. This legacy 
is important. It is not just what we are doing today with the different 
pieces of legislation, but what are we going to leave for future 
generations; what are they going to remember America by; are they going 
to have the natural and cultural beauty.
  The Park Service manages 385 sites; has more than 83 million acres of 
land

[[Page H6921]]

to manage; habitat for 168 threatened and endangered species; more than 
80 million museum artifacts, some of the greatest collections of museum 
artifacts than other museums combined, for the most part; 1.5 million 
archeological sites; and 26,000 historic structures.
  Now, the problem that we have is that we have a shortfall of $600 
million just to keep the maintenance backlog covered, which amounts to 
32 percent of what the Park Service needs to fulfill its mission, and 
we are falling more and more deeply behind. What I wanted to address in 
addition to the very specific thing that a number of us have requested 
is that the conference committee, and the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. 
Lewis), who just a little bit ago and I were debating on another matter 
have cosponsored legislation or efforts to raise the National Parks 
funding to $280 million. We were successful in getting an additional 
$118.5 million, working with the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Skeen) 
and the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks), the chairman and ranking 
member. And the wonderful people on the Interior Committee on 
Appropriations actually boosted the park funding over the President's 
request. However, the Senate bill is much less, and we need to make 
sure we hold that House position.
  Let me give an illustration of why this is so important. Earlier this 
month, this House passed these boundary adjustments for the Pemberton's 
headquarters in Vicksburg National Military Park, the George Washington 
Birthplace National Monument, the Santa Monica Mountains National 
Recreation area, the Golden Gate Recreation Area boundary adjustment, 
and the Allegheny Portage, Pennsylvania Railroad National Historical 
Park.
  We also did land acquisition at the Salt Lake City Museum of Natural 
History, Salt River Bay St. Croix, Virgin Islands and Timpanogos Cave 
National Monument, Grand Teton land exchange, James V. Hansen Shoshone 
National Trail, the Mcloughlin House Preservation and the William 
Jefferson Clinton Birthplace.
  We also passed in this House a study for feasibility and inclusion of 
the Miami Circle site, a very expensive site, by the way, in the city 
of Miami, but worthwhile; Gateway Communities Cooperation, Mount Nebo 
Wilderness Boundary, and Bainbridge Island Japanese American Memorial.
  We also voted to establish Victims of Terrorist Attacks Memorial in 
Washington, D.C. We also asked for more funding for Historically Black 
Colleges and Universities; historic preservation, which could be as 
high as $120 million from 2003 to 2007; and we passed the Vancouver, 
Washington National Historic Reserve Development costs from 5 million 
to $25 million.
  Tonight, alone, on Monday night we passed the Cedar Creek Battlefield 
and Belle Grove Plantation National Historical Park Act. We passed the 
Spirit Lake and Twin Lakes Land Adjustment Act. We passed the Red Rock 
Canyon National Conservation Area Protection Enhancement Act of 2002. 
We passed tonight the Southern Campaign of the Revolution Heritage Area 
Study Act. We passed tonight the Andersonville National Historic Site 
Boundary Adjustment Act.

                              {time}  2330

  We also have passed the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Act to 
preserve Civil War battlefields.
  These are all worthy projects, but how can we stand here and pass 
bill after bill after bill after bill after bill to go into the 
National Park Service, and then say we have no more money, when we have 
a backlog of $600 million? There has to be some sort of accountability 
within this Congress.
  I supported these bills. I was here tonight and let them go through 
on unanimous consent. But then I have an obligation to say we are going 
to fund these efforts, because otherwise we are pulling the wool over 
the Americans' eyes. We cannot keep saying that we are going to do this 
new park, this new park, this new heritage area, we are going to 
maintain Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks, we are going to make 
sure the campgrounds are up to snuff, we are going to make sure there 
are decent roads, we are going to make sure the resources are 
protected, and then not do the funding.
  We need to make sure we hold the House funding level. It is a 
critical part of our national heritage.

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