[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 11, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H3321]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     THE $10 BILLION LANDS BILL: ANOTHER BIG GOVERNMENT BOONDOGGLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, today the House, unfortunately, voted 
overwhelmingly in favor of the Senate lands bill, a $10 billion bill 
that we simply cannot afford. Fortunately, it did not pass with the 
required two-thirds vote necessary for passage under suspension of the 
rules. However, all this really means is that it will now be taken up 
under regular order, where it should have been in the first place and 
which requires only a majority vote. Thus there is no question this 
bill will pass the next time it's taken up.
  But I hope more people across this land will start thinking about 
what we are doing to ourselves. I realize that since we are now 
throwing around trillions, spending money like never before, that maybe 
people don't really think that $10 billion sounds like that much 
anymore. But to anyone who stops to think about it, $10 billion is 
still an awful lot of money, and it becomes even more when you realize 
that we are having to borrow all this money we're spending since we 
surely don't have surplus cash, and we are now 12 trillion 104 billion 
dollars in debt at the Federal level. I realize that 12 trillion 104 
billion is an incomprehensible figure. But what it really means is that 
we will soon not be able to pay all of our Social Security and 
veterans' pensions and all the other things we promised our own people 
with money that will buy anything.
  I used to say what we were doing to our children and grandchildren 
was terrible. But now I believe that tough economic times, already here 
for many, are going to come for almost everyone in the next 10 or 15 
years, if not sooner.
  When a family gets deeply, head-over-heels in debt, it gets in even 
worse trouble if it goes out and greatly increases its spending even 
more. That is exactly the situation our Federal Government is in today, 
living way beyond its means.
  This lands bill is a combination of 170 bills, which cost $10 billion 
in total. In addition to that, it is a luxury that we do not need and 
which will be very harmful in the long run. We already are having 
trouble funding and taking care of the Federal lands we have now. The 
National Park Service claims it has a $9 billion backlog on things it 
needs to do in our 379 national park units. It sounds great for a 
politician to create a park, but we now have so many parks at the 
Federal, State, and local levels that we cannot even come close to 
getting adequate use of them unless all of our people suddenly find a 
way to go on permanent vacations.
  Another problem that few people think about is that we keep creating 
so many local and State parks, and expanding others, especially at the 
Federal level, that we are taking way too much land off the tax rolls. 
We keep decreasing private property at the same time the schools and 
all the other government agencies keep coming to us telling us they 
need more money.
  These 170 bills, combined into one bill, create 2 million acres of 
new wilderness, 330,000 acres of national conservation areas, and 
restrict energy development on millions of acres.
  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says this bill ``substantially hampers 
energy development and private property rights by withdrawing millions 
of acres of land from oil and gas exploration . . . shackling U.S. 
energy exploration and development at this critical time would 
substantially jeopardize America's already fragile economy.''
  It's going to drive up prices, utility bills, Mr. Speaker, and it's 
going to destroy jobs.
  The Federal Government today owns about 30 percent of the land of 
this Nation. It has 84 million acres in the National Park System. It 
has 150 million acres in the Wildlife Refuge System. It has 193 million 
acres in the National Forest System. I could go on and on with other 
Federal lands, but it's not necessary.
  Then State and local governments and quasi-governmental agencies 
control another 20 percent of the land. Half the land is now already in 
some type of public ownership now.
  On top of all this, there are now 1,667 land trusts and 1,400 
conservancy groups at least. These are figures from 2 years ago; so 
there may be more now. USA Today, which published these figures, said 
that these private trusts and conservancy groups control about 40 
million acres and that they're taking over an average of more than 2\1/
2\ million more each year. These lands are eventually sold or turned 
over to the government at great cost to the taxpayer and causing 
further increases in taxes on the property that remains in private 
hands. Then we're putting more and more restrictions or limitations on 
the private property that can be developed, thus driving up the cost of 
homes to astronomical levels in many areas.
  Mr. Speaker, we are slowly but surely doing away with private 
property in this country. If we don't wake up and realize that private 
property is one of the keys to both our prosperity and our freedom, we 
are going to really cause serious problems for everyone except for the 
very wealthy.

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