[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 42 (Saturday, March 20, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H1749-H1756]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 PUBLIC LANDS SERVICE CORPS ACT OF 2009

  Mr. GRIJALVA. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1192, I 
call up the bill (H.R. 1612) to amend the Public Lands Corps Act of 
1993 to expand the authorization of the Secretaries of Agriculture, 
Commerce, and the Interior to provide service-learning opportunities on 
public lands, help restore the Nation's natural, cultural, historic, 
archaeological, recreational, and scenic resources, train a new 
generation of public land managers and enthusiasts, and promote the 
value of public service, and ask for its immediate consideration in the 
House.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 1192, the bill 
is considered read.
  The amendment in the nature of a substitute printed in the bill is 
adopted.
  The text of the bill, as amended, is as follows:

                               H.R. 1612

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Public Lands Service Corps 
     Act of 2009''.

     SEC. 2. REFERENCE.

       Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in this 
     Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of an 
     amendment to, or a repeal of, a section or other provision, 
     the reference shall be considered to be made to a section or 
     other provision of the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 (16 
     U.S.C. 1721 et seq.; title II of Public Law 91-378).

     SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE PUBLIC LANDS CORPS ACT OF 1993.

       (a) Name and Project Description Changes.--The Act is 
     amended--
       (1) by striking ``Public Lands Corps'' each place it 
     appears and inserting ``Public Lands Service Corps'';
       (2) in the title heading, by striking ``PUBLIC LANDS 
     CORPS'' and inserting ``PUBLIC LANDS SERVICE CORPS'';
       (3) in the section 204--
       (A) in the section heading, by striking ``PUBLIC LANDS 
     CORPS'' and inserting ``PUBLIC LANDS SERVICE CORPS''; and
       (B) in the heading of subsection (a), by striking ``Public 
     Lands Corps'' and inserting ``Public Lands Service Corps'';
       (4) in the heading of paragraph (2) of section 210(a), by 
     striking ``Public lands corps'' and inserting ``Public lands 
     service corps'';
       (5) by striking ``conservation center'' each place it 
     appears and inserting ``residential conservation center''; 
     and
       (6) by striking ``appropriate conservation projects'' each 
     place it appears (except in paragraph (1) of section 204(e) 
     as so redesignated) and inserting ``appropriate natural and 
     cultural resources conservation projects''.
       (b) Findings.--Section 202(a) of the Act is amended as 
     follows:
       (1) In paragraph (1), by striking ``the natural and 
     cultural'' and inserting ``natural and cultural''.
       (2) By redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as paragraphs 
     (4) and (5), respectively, and by inserting after paragraph 
     (1) the following:
       ``(2) Participants in conservation corps receive meaningful 
     training and their experience with such corps provides 
     preparation for careers in public service.
       ``(3) Young men and women who participate in the 
     rehabilitation and restoration of our Nation's natural, 
     cultural, historic, archaeological, recreational, and scenic 
     treasures will gain an increased appreciation and 
     understanding of our public lands and heritage, and of the 
     value of public service, and are likely to become life-long 
     advocates for those values.''.
       (3) In paragraph (4) (as so redesignated), by inserting ``, 
     cultural, historic, archaeological, recreational, and 
     scenic'' after ``Many facilities and natural''.
       (4) By adding at the end the following:
       ``(6) The work of conservation corps can benefit 
     communities adjacent to public lands and facilities through 
     renewed civic engagement and participation by corps 
     participants and those they serve; improved student 
     achievement; and restoration and rehabilitation of public 
     assets.''.
       (c) Purpose.--Section 202(b) of the Act is amended to read 
     as follows:
       ``(b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are to--
       ``(1) introduce young men and women to public service while 
     furthering their understanding and appreciation of the 
     Nation's natural, cultural, historic, archaeological, 
     recreational, and scenic resources;
       ``(2) facilitate training and recruitment opportunities in 
     which service is credited as qualifying experience for 
     careers in public land management;
       ``(3) instill in a new generation of young men and women 
     from across the Nation, including those from diverse 
     backgrounds, the desire to seek careers in natural and 
     cultural resource stewardship and public service by allowing 
     them to work directly with professionals in agencies 
     responsible for the management of the Nation's natural, 
     cultural, historic, archaeological, recreational, and scenic 
     resources;
       ``(4) perform, in a cost-effective manner, appropriate 
     natural and cultural resources conservation projects where 
     such projects are not being performed by existing employees;
       ``(5) assist governments and Indian tribes in performing 
     research and public education tasks associated with natural 
     and cultural resources;
       ``(6) expand educational opportunities by rewarding 
     individuals who participate in national service with an 
     increased ability to pursue higher education or job training; 
     and
       ``(7) promote public understanding and appreciation of the 
     individual missions and natural and cultural resources 
     conservation work of the Federal agencies through training 
     opportunities, community service and outreach, and other 
     appropriate means.''.
       (d) Definitions.--Section 203 of the Act is amended as 
     follows:
       (1) By amending paragraphs (1) and (2) to read as follows:
       ``(1) Appropriate natural and cultural resources 
     conservation project.--The term `appropriate natural and 
     cultural resources conservation project' means any project 
     for the conservation, restoration, construction, or 
     rehabilitation of natural, cultural, historic, 
     archaeological, recreational, or scenic resources.
       ``(2) Corps and public lands service corps.--The terms 
     `Corps' and `Public Lands Service Corps' mean the Public 
     Lands Service Corps established under section 204 of this 
     title.''.

[[Page H1750]]

       (2) By striking paragraphs (3) and (8).
       (3) By redesignating paragraphs (4), (5), (6), (7), (9), 
     (10), (11), (12), and (13) as paragraphs (3) through (11), 
     respectively.
       (4) By amending paragraph (7) (as so redesignated) to read 
     as follows:
       ``(7) Public lands.--The term `public lands' means any 
     lands or waters (or interest therein) owned or administered 
     by the United States, including those areas of coastal and 
     ocean waters, the Great Lakes and their connecting waters, 
     and submerged lands over which the United States exercises 
     jurisdiction, except that such term does not include any 
     Indian lands.''.
       (5) In paragraph (8) (as so redesignated)--
       (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (B) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period and 
     inserting ``; and''; and
       (C) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(D) makes available for audit for each fiscal year for 
     which the qualified youth or conservation corps receives 
     Federal funds under this Act, information pertaining to the 
     expenditure of the funds, any matching funds, and participant 
     demographics.''.
       (6) In paragraph (10) (as so redesignated)--
       (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period and 
     inserting ``; and''; and
       (C) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(C) with respect to the National Marine Sanctuary System, 
     coral reefs, and other coastal, estuarine, and marine 
     habitats, and other lands and facilities administered by the 
     National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the 
     Secretary of Commerce.''.
       (7) By adding at the end the following:
       ``(12) Residential conservation centers.--The term 
     `residential conservation centers' means the facilities 
     authorized under section 205.
       ``(13) Consulting intern.--The term `consulting intern' 
     means a consulting intern selected under section 206.
       ``(14) Public lands service corps participant.--The term 
     `Public Lands Service Corps participant', `Corps participant' 
     or `participant of the Corps' means an individual who is 
     enrolled in the Public Lands Service Corps pursuant to 
     section 204(b).''.
       (e) Public Lands Service Corps Program.--Section 204 of the 
     Act is amended as follows:
       (1) In subsection (a)--
       (A) in the heading, by adding at the end ``Program'';
       (B) by striking ``and the Department of Agriculture a'' and 
     inserting ``, the Department of Agriculture, and the 
     Department of Commerce a service and training program titled 
     the''; and
       (C) by adding at the end the following: ``The Secretary of 
     the Interior shall establish a department-level office to 
     coordinate Public Lands Service Corps activities within the 
     Department of the Interior. The Secretary of Agriculture 
     shall establish within the U.S. Forest Service an office to 
     coordinate Public Lands Service Corps activities within that 
     agency. The Secretary of Commerce shall establish within the 
     National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration an office to 
     coordinate Public Lands Service Corps activities within that 
     agency. The Secretary of each department shall designate a 
     Public Lands Service Corps coordinator for each agency within 
     that department that administers Public Lands Service Corps 
     activities.''.
       (2) By amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
       ``(b) Participants.--The Secretary may enroll in the Public 
     Lands Service Corps individuals between the ages of 16 and 
     25, inclusive, who are either hired by an agency under the 
     Secretary's jurisdiction to perform work authorized under 
     this Act or who are members of a qualified youth or 
     conservation corps with which the Secretary has entered into 
     a cooperative agreement to perform work authorized under this 
     Act. The Secretary may also enroll resource assistants and 
     consulting interns. All enrollees shall be considered Public 
     Lands Service Corps participants, and may be enrolled for a 
     term of up to 24 months of service, which may be served over 
     more than two calendar years. The individuals may be enrolled 
     without regard to the civil service and classification laws, 
     rules, or regulations of the United States. The Secretary may 
     establish a preference for the enrollment in the Corps of 
     individuals who are economically, physically, or 
     educationally disadvantaged.''.
       (3) In subsection (c)--
       (A) in paragraph (1)--
       (i) by striking ``contracts and'';
       (ii) by inserting ``natural and cultural resources'' after 
     ``appropriate''; and
       (iii) by striking ``subsection (d)'' and inserting 
     ``subsection (e)'';
       (B) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3);
       (C) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
       ``(2) Recruitment.--The Secretary shall undertake, or enter 
     into cooperative agreements to provide, a program to attract 
     eligible youth to the Corps by publicizing Corps 
     opportunities through high schools, colleges, employment 
     centers, electronic media, and other appropriate institutions 
     or means.''; and
       (D) by amending paragraph (3) (as so redesignated) to read 
     as follows:
       ``(3) Preference.--For purposes of entering into 
     cooperative agreements under paragraph (1), the Secretary may 
     give preference to qualified youth or conservation corps 
     located in a specific area that have a substantial portion of 
     members who are economically, physically, or educationally 
     disadvantaged to carry out projects within the area.''.
       (4) By redesignating subsections (d) through (f) as 
     subsections (e) through (g), respectively.
       (5) By inserting after subsection (c) the following:
       ``(d) Training.--The Secretary shall establish a training 
     program based at appropriate residential conservation centers 
     or at other suitable regional Federal or other appropriate 
     facilities or sites to provide training for Corps 
     participants. The Secretary shall--
       ``(1) ensure that the duration and comprehensiveness of the 
     training program shall be commensurate with the projects 
     Corps participants are expected to undertake;
       ``(2) develop department-wide standards for the program 
     that include training in--
       ``(A) resource stewardship;
       ``(B) ethics for those in public service;
       ``(C) principles of national service;
       ``(D) health and safety;
       ``(E) teamwork and leadership; and
       ``(F) interpersonal communications;
       ``(3) direct each participating agency to develop agency-
     specific training guidelines to ensure that Corps 
     participants enrolled to undertake projects for that agency 
     are appropriately informed about matters specific to that 
     agency, including--
       ``(A) the history and organization of the agency;
       ``(B) the agency's core values; and
       ``(C) any agency-specific standards for the management of 
     natural, cultural, historic, archaeological, recreational, 
     and scenic resources; and
       ``(4) take into account training already received by Corps 
     participants enrolled from qualified youth or conservation 
     corps, including in the matters outlined in paragraph (2).''.
       (6) In subsection (e) (as so redesignated)--
       (A) in paragraph (1)--
       (i) by striking ``The Secretary may utilize the Corps or 
     any qualified youth or conservation corps to carry out 
     appropriate'' and inserting ``The Secretary may use Corps 
     participants to carry out, under appropriate supervision and 
     training, appropriate natural and cultural resource''; and
       (ii) by striking ``law on public lands.'' and inserting the 
     following: ``law. Such projects may include, but are not 
     limited to--
       ``(A) protection, restoration, or enhancement of ecosystem 
     components to promote species recovery, improve biological 
     diversity, enhance productivity and carbon sequestration, and 
     enhance adaptability and resilience of public lands and 
     resources in the face of climate change and other natural and 
     human disturbances;
       ``(B) promoting the health of forests and public lands, 
     refuges, and coastal and marine areas, including--
       ``(i) protection and restoration of watersheds and forest, 
     riparian, estuarine, grassland, coral reef, intertidal, or 
     other habitat;
       ``(ii) reduction of wildfire risk and mitigation of damage 
     from insects, disease, and disasters;
       ``(iii) erosion control;
       ``(iv) control or removal of invasive, noxious, or non-
     native species; and
       ``(v) restoration of native species;
       ``(C) collection of biological, archaeological, and other 
     scientific data, including monitoring of climatological 
     information, species populations and movement, habitat 
     status, and other factors;
       ``(D) assisting in historical and cultural research, 
     archival and curatorial work, oral history projects, 
     documentary photography, and activities that support the 
     creation of public works of art related to public lands; and
       ``(E) construction, repair, rehabilitation, green building 
     retrofitting, and maintenance of roads, trails, campgrounds, 
     and other facilities, employee housing, cultural and historic 
     sites and structures, and facilities that further the 
     purposes of the Public Lands Service Corps.''.
       (B) By redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as paragraphs 
     (4) and (5), respectively.
       (C) By inserting after paragraph (1) the following:
       ``(2) Visitor services.--The Secretary may--
       ``(A) enter into or amend an existing cooperative agreement 
     with a cooperating association, educational institute, 
     friends group, or similar nonprofit partner organization for 
     the purpose of providing training and work experience to 
     Corps participants in areas including, but not limited to, 
     sales, office work, accounting, and management provided that 
     the work experience directly relates to the protection and 
     management of the public lands; and
       ``(B) allow Corps participants to help promote visitor 
     safety and enjoyment of public lands, and assist in the 
     gathering of visitor use data.
       ``(3) Interpretation.--The Secretary may assign Corps 
     participants to provide interpretation or education services 
     for the public under the appropriate direction and 
     supervision of agency personnel, including--
       ``(A) providing orientation and information services to 
     visitors, including services for non-English speaking 
     visitors and visitors who use American Sign Language;
       ``(B) assisting agency personnel in the delivery of 
     interpretive or educational programs, including outdoor 
     learning and classroom learning;
       ``(C) presenting programs on Federal lands or at schools, 
     after-school programs, and youth-serving community programs 
     that relate the personal experience of the Corps participant 
     for the purpose of promoting public awareness of the Corps, 
     its role in public land management agencies, and its 
     availability to potential participants; and
       ``(D) creating nonpersonal interpretive products, such as 
     Web site content, Junior Ranger program books, printed 
     handouts, and audiovisual programs.''.
       (D) In paragraph (4) (as so redesignated), by striking 
     ``Appropriate conservation projects'' and inserting 
     ``Appropriate natural and cultural resources conservation 
     projects''.
       (7) In subsection (g) (as so redesignated), by striking 
     ``appropriate conservation project'' inserting ``appropriate 
     natural and cultural resources conservation project''.

[[Page H1751]]

       (8) By amending the text of subsection (f)(2) (as so 
     redesignated) to read as follows: ``will instill in Corps 
     participants a work ethic and a sense of public service;''.
       (9) In subsection (g) (as so redesignated), by striking 
     ``on eligible service lands''.
       (10) By adding at the end the following:
       ``(h) Other Participants.--The Secretary may allow 
     volunteers from other programs administered or designated by 
     the Secretary to participate as volunteers in projects 
     carried out under this section on such terms as the Secretary 
     considers appropriate.''.
       (f) Residential Conservation Centers and Program Support.--
     Section 205 of the Act is amended as follows:
       (1) In the section heading, by striking ``CONSERVATION'' 
     and inserting ``RESIDENTIAL CONSERVATION''.
       (2) In subsection (a)--
       (A) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows:
       ``(1) In general.--The Secretary may establish residential 
     conservation centers for--
       ``(A) such housing, food service, medical care, 
     transportation, and other services as the Secretary deems 
     necessary for the Public Lands Service Corps; and
       ``(B) the conduct of appropriate residential conservation 
     projects under this Act.'';
       (B) by striking paragraph (2) and redesignating paragraphs 
     (3) and (4) as paragraphs (2) and (3), respectively;
       (C) in paragraph (2) (as so redesignated)--
       (i) in the text, by inserting ``residential'' before 
     ``conservation centers''; and
       (ii) in the heading, by inserting ``residential'' before 
     ``conservation centers''; and
       (D) in paragraph (3) (as so redesignated), by striking 
     ``with a State or'' and inserting ``a cooperative agreement 
     with another Federal, State, or''.
       (3) In subsection (b)--
       (A) by striking ``The Secretary'' and inserting the 
     following:
       ``(1) The Secretary''; and
       (B) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(2) The Secretary may make arrangements with other 
     Federal agencies, States, local governments, or private 
     organizations to provide temporary housing as needed and 
     available.
       ``(3) In project areas where Corps participants can 
     reasonably be expected to reside at their own homes, the 
     Secretary may fund or provide transportation to and from 
     project sites.''.
       (4) By redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (g).
       (5) By inserting after subsection (c) the following:
       ``(d) Facilities.--The Secretary may, as an appropriate 
     natural and cultural resources conservation project, direct 
     Corps participants to aid in the rehabilitation or 
     construction of residential conservation center facilities, 
     including housing.
       ``(e) Green Buildings.--The Secretary may seek the 
     assistance of the Secretary of Energy in identifying and 
     using solar and other green building technologies and modular 
     housing designs that may be adapted for residential 
     conservation center facilities, including--
       ``(1) designs from the Department of Energy's Solar 
     Decathlon competition; and
       ``(2) logistical support, assistance, and training from 
     Solar Decathlon participants.
       ``(f) Mentors.--The Secretary may recruit from programs, 
     such as agency volunteer programs, and from agency retirees, 
     veterans groups, military retirees, active duty personnel, 
     and from appropriate youth-serving organizations, such adults 
     as may be suitable and qualified to provide training, 
     mentoring, and crew-leading services to Corps 
     participants.''.
       (6) In subsection (g) (as so redesignated), by striking 
     ``are appropriate to carry out this title'' and inserting 
     ``the Secretary determines to be necessary for the 
     residential conservation center''.
       (g) Resource Assistants and Consulting Interns.--Section 
     206 of the Act is amended as follows:
       (1) In the section heading, by inserting ``AND CONSULTING 
     INTERNS'' before the period.
       (2) In subsection (a), by striking ``The Secretary is 
     authorized to provide individual placements of resource'' and 
     inserting the following: ``The Secretary is authorized, to 
     provide individual placements of the following:
       ``(1) Resource''.
       (3) By inserting after subsection (a)(1) (as so 
     designated), the following:
       ``(2) Consulting interns with any Federal land, coastal, or 
     ocean management agency under the jurisdiction of the 
     Secretary to carry out management analysis activities on 
     behalf of the agency. To be eligible for selection as a 
     consulting intern, an individual must be a current enrollee 
     and have completed at least one full year at a graduate or 
     professional school that has been accredited by an 
     accrediting body that has been recognized by the Secretary of 
     Education. The Secretary may select consulting interns 
     without regard to the civil service and classification laws, 
     rules, or regulations of the United States.''.
       (4) In subsection (b)--
       (A) by inserting ``or consulting interns'' before ``through 
     private sources'';
       (B) in the second sentence, before the period, by inserting 
     ``; up to 15 percent may be in-kind''; and
       (C) by striking ``Resource Assistants'' and inserting 
     ``resource assistants or consulting interns''.
       (5) By adding at the end the following:
       ``(c) Cost Sharing Requirements.--At the Secretary's 
     discretion, the requirements for cost sharing applicable to 
     participating nonprofit organizations for the expenses of 
     resource assistants and consulting interns under subsection 
     (b) may be reduced to not less than 10 percent.''.
       (h) Technical Amendment.--The Act is amended by 
     redesignating sections 207, 208, 209, 210, and 211 as 
     sections 208, 209, 210, 211, and 212, respectively.
       (i) Guidance.--The Act is amended by inserting after 
     section 206 the following:

     ``SEC. 207. GUIDANCE.

       ``Not later than 18 months after funds are made available 
     for this purpose, the Secretaries shall issue guidelines for 
     the management of the Public Lands Service Corps programs for 
     use by regional and State directors, and the supervisors of 
     individual parks, forests, districts, sanctuaries, reserves, 
     hatcheries, and refuges.''.
       (j) Living Allowances and Terms of Service.--Section 208 of 
     the Act (as so redesignated) is amended--
       (1) by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
       ``(a) Living Allowances.--The Secretary shall provide each 
     Corps participant with a living allowance in an amount 
     established by the Secretary. The Secretary may--
       ``(1) apply a cost-of-living differential to such 
     allowances; and
       ``(2) reimburse Corps participants for travel costs at the 
     beginning and end of their term of service if the Secretary 
     deems appropriate.'';
       (2) by amending the text of subsection (b) to read as 
     follows: ``Each Corp participant shall agree to participate 
     in the Corps for such term of service as may be established 
     by the Secretary enrolling or selecting the individual.'';
       (3) in the heading of subsection (c), by adding at the end 
     ``Preference and Future Employment''; and
       (4) in subsection (c)--
       (A) by amending paragraphs (1) and (2) to read as follows:
       ``(1) grant to a participant of the Public Lands Service 
     Corps credit for service time in the Corps to be used as 
     qualifying experience toward future Federal hiring;
       ``(2) provide to a former participant of the Public Lands 
     Service Corps noncompetitive hiring status for a period of 
     not more than two years after the date on which the 
     participant's service with the Public Lands Service Corps is 
     complete (not counting any time spent enrolled in an academic 
     institution or trade school), if the candidate--
       ``(A) has served a minimum of 960 hours on an appropriate 
     natural or cultural resource conservation project that 
     included at least 120 hours through the Public Lands Service 
     Corps; and
       ``(B) meets Office of Personnel Management qualification 
     standards for the position to which the candidate is 
     applying;''; and
       (B) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(3) develop a system to provide consideration for 
     participants who cannot meet the requirements of paragraph 
     (2);
       ``(4) provide to an individual who has successfully 
     fulfilled the resource assistant program noncompetitive 
     hiring status for a period of not more than two years after 
     the date on which the individual has completed an 
     undergraduate degree from an accredited institution;
       ``(5) provide to an individual who has successfully 
     fulfilled the consulting internship program noncompetitive 
     hiring status for a period of not more than two years after 
     the date on which the individual has completed a graduate 
     degree from an accredited institution; and
       ``(6) provide, or enter into cooperative agreements with 
     qualified employment agencies to provide, alumni services 
     such as job and education counseling, referrals, verification 
     of service, communications, and other appropriate services to 
     participants who have completed their Corps service.''.
       (k) National Service Educational Awards.--Section 209 of 
     the Act (as so redesignated) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``If a'' and all that 
     follows through ``shall be eligible'' and inserting ``If a 
     Corps participant also serves in an approved national service 
     position designated under subtitle C of title I of the 
     National and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12571 
     et seq.), the Corps participant shall be eligible''; and
       (2) in subsection (b), by striking--
       (A) ``either participants in the Corps or resource 
     assistants'' and inserting ``participants in the Corps'' ; 
     and
       (B) ``or a resource assistant''.
       (l) Nondisplacement.--Section 210 of the Act (as so 
     redesignated) is amended to read as follows:

     ``SEC. 210. NONDISPLACEMENT.

       ``The nondisplacement requirements of the National and 
     Community Service Act of 1990 shall be applicable to all 
     activities carried out by the Public Lands Service Corps 
     participants.''.
       (m) Funding.--Section 211 of the Act (as so redesignated) 
     is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a)(1)--
       (A) by striking ``appropriate conservation project'' each 
     place it appears and inserting ``appropriate natural and 
     cultural resources conservation project''; and
       (B) by adding at the end the following: ``The Secretary may 
     reduce to no less than 10 percent the non-Federal costs of a 
     project when the Secretary determines that it is necessary to 
     enable participation in the Public Lands Service Corps from a 
     greater range of organizations.''; and
       (2) in subsection (b)--
       (A) by inserting ``program'' after ``Corps''; and
       (B) by inserting ``, consulting interns'' before ``and 
     qualified youth''.
       (n) Authorization of Appropriations.--Section 212 of the 
     Act (as so redesignated) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ``to the Secretary'' 
     after ``authorized to be appropriated'';
       (2) in subsection (a), by striking ``to carry out'' the 
     first place it appears and all that follows through the 
     period and inserting ``such

[[Page H1752]]

     sums as may be necessary to carry out this title.'';
       (3) by striking subsection (b); and
       (4) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (b).

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. After 1 hour of debate on the bill, as 
amended, it shall be in order to consider the further amendments 
printed in part C of House Report 111-445, each of which may be offered 
only by a Member designated in the report, shall be considered as read, 
and shall be separately debatable for 10 minutes equally divided and 
controlled by the proponent and an opponent.
  The gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Grijalva) and the gentleman from Utah 
(Mr. Bishop) each will control 30 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arizona.


                             General Leave

  Mr. GRIJALVA. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and insert extraneous material on H.R. 1612.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Arizona?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 
1612, a bill I introduced last year to help repair and restore our 
Nation's public lands while employing and training thousands of young 
Americans and promoting the culture of public service.
  In 1993, when the Public Lands Corps was established through the good 
work of our late colleague Bruce Vento of Minnesota, there were huge 
backlogs of labor-intensive work on national park lands, forests, 
wildlife refuges, historic sites, and Indian lands. Unfortunately, we 
still face those challenges and more. Years of inadequate funding have 
put our Federal land management agencies further behind on vital 
maintenance work, while infrastructure continues to crumble.
  Despite the best efforts of these underfunded agencies, natural and 
cultural resources are being neglected, and in many places the effects 
of climate change are magnifying earlier problems such as fire risk, 
damage by insects and invasive species, coastal erosion, and fragmented 
habitat. The stimulus bill we passed in the first session has begun to 
attack the problem, but is only a start. Much remains to be done on the 
public lands.
  My bill, H.R. 1612, will expand and reinvigorate an existing program, 
the Public Lands Corps, by streamlining its management, modernizing its 
scope, and providing new tools to help the program accomplish its 
mission, putting young people to work repairing our most treasured 
resources. Young people participating in the Public Lands Service Corps 
will work side by side with professional land managers to collect 
biological data, preserve historic documents, rebuild roads and trails, 
attack invasive weeds, reduce fire risk and improve watershed health, 
paint visitor facilities, restore damaged wetlands, help build green 
buildings, and welcome visitors to our parks and public lands. These 
and a wide variety of other jobs will be available to Corps members for 
a period up to 2 years. Their term of service will include the training 
they need do these jobs.
  My bill also allows the agencies to provide housing for Corps 
participants, and even allows the Corps members to build housing that 
can be used by future Corps members. The training and experience Corps 
members receive while working to improve the condition of our natural 
and cultural resources will give them a huge advantage when they enter 
the working world in such professions as science, land management, the 
building trades, academic disciplines such as history and education.
  The legislation not only takes a decisive step forward in finishing 
desperately needed work on our national park lands, forests, wildlife 
refuges, historic sites and Indian lands, but also recognizes the 
importance of our coastal and marine systems and our national marine 
sanctuaries. This expanded public service initiative will introduce 
people from a greater diversity of social, ethnic, and cultural 
backgrounds to our Nation's parks, forests, and public lands not only 
as possible future employees, but also as lifelong advocates and 
enthusiasts.
  The legislation takes advantage of an opportunity to provide 
meaningful employment and training to young people who need it, while 
also improving the condition of our priceless natural and cultural 
resources. President Obama and Interior Secretary Salazar have made 
national service a priority and have graciously supported this 
legislation. I am also proud to have the support of preeminent 
conversation corps groups, as well as leading national parks advocacy 
groups.
  I ask my colleagues to support the passage of this measure. At a time 
when unemployment among our youth and particularly the urban areas is 
at an all time high, H.R. 1612 begins to address that crisis and also 
to address the unmet needs of our public lands.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, I, as well as many who are here on the floor, am just 
pleased to be here on a Saturday morning to discuss the bill that is 
the significance and the reason why we are here, and also the side-view 
of being able to count the number of arm splints that we see today so 
we can be part of an historical occasion.
  This bill I do think happens to be one of the metaphors perhaps for 
this entire session as we begin this weekend reality play that 
definitely does fit into the theater of the absurd. This is a good 
program, but there is much common good for which we could have found a 
great deal of common support had this bill been allowed to have some 
bipartisanship with it.
  Both the ranking member of the full committee and the ranking member 
of the subcommittee had amendments that had been proposed in the 
committee that were withdrawn under the assumption that they would be 
worked upon and added to the final bill when it came here to the floor. 
That was not simply the case. So what could have been an easy bill to 
pass with common assumptions to it that would have been one of the 
things that could have been done in a bipartisan way has now been 
turned into something that has a partisan flavor to it, as the only 
rule bill that we have for this weekend so far simply because of the 
standards that we have had in this proposal. This is indeed a metaphor 
for what we are doing and what we have been doing for much of this 
session.
  I do have some concerns, Madam Speaker, for this bill in three basic 
areas. First of all, the concept of funding and fiscal responsibility. 
Secondly, the concept of curriculum that will be involved in this 
program. And third, what I would probably call is the genealogy of this 
particular program.
  One of the amendments and one of the requests that we had is that 
this bill should be sunsetted in some particular way. In fact, there 
will be an amendment that will be brought to the floor to add a sunset 
provision to this particular bill. This bill as currently administered 
spends $12 million a year. For some people, that is considered a lot of 
money. Around here, I realize that is simply a rounding error. But what 
it does, if you pass this particular bill, it takes off the cap that 
caps this program at $12 million a year and allows it to be funded at 
any level one assumes. The CBO made the assumption that would be $120 
million over 5 years. How they reached that assumption no one really 
knows.
  One of the things we should do if we were fiscally responsible would 
be to make sure that there was a specific cap on this program and that 
there was a sunset provision so it could be reviewed. One of the things 
we all realize around this country, especially as we talk about the 
increasing deficit of this country, is that there are some things that 
the Federal Government must do. Defense of this country is one of the 
things we must do. There are some things we should never do. And there 
are some things that fall into those limited categories of it would be 
nice to do if it meets with our priorities and we have the means to 
provide them. Providing for the Park Service, healthy forests is one of 
those things we should do. But it must be set in the environment of how 
much money we have and where our priorities lie.
  Having kids being groomed to be future managers is a nice thing to do 
on

[[Page H1753]]

these public lands if it fits into our priorities. And that is why this 
program should be reviewed at a regular basis by Congress. Once these 
types of programs are passed on indefinitely and become embodied within 
the budget itself, it is never reviewed by this body again, which is 
our function and our responsibility.
  If anything was done in a self-executing rule, the amendment we will 
talk about later to actually put a cap on this program and make sure 
that we review it on a regular basis, that should have been self-
executing because it is our responsibility as Congress, and we should 
not abrogate that particular responsibility.
  The second concern I have is what I call the curriculum of this 
particular program. It has been portrayed by groups to us that this is 
like a new version of the CCC coming along trying to make changes and 
improvements in public lands. If that were the case, we would probably 
have very little concern about it. But that is not necessarily what 
will be allowed if this bill actually goes into effect. See, when this 
program was originally started the goal was to have kids working on 
projects that would benefit specially our Forest Service and public 
lands. But unfortunately as this is now altered, there is no guarantee 
of where the funds will go and what the priorities may be, which is one 
of the things we simply wanted. Keep the program doing what the program 
was intended to do.
  This time the government will send money, much of which will be 
handled by the Student Conservation Association. They will be the ones 
who will facilitate programs and give grants. How it's structured no 
one knows. Because once again, instead of ensuring that this is done to 
the betterment of public lands, this allows for money to go to 
political issues under the guise of some kind of conservationship. For 
indeed, this group has had an agenda in the past which has been anti-
affordable energy, anti-coal fired plants, pro-higher taxes and energy 
costs.
  Our staff had the opportunity of looking on the Web site of this 
particular group. They sponsored a conference here in Washington 
several years ago sponsored by the National Park Service, some funding 
from the National Park Service in which the curriculum for that 
conference was not just about how we improve our public lands, but also 
how one stages protests, how one can do a sit-in to prevent a timber 
harvest from taking place. In fact, as you look at their Web site their 
organizing chart lists to start small and then grow and make it fun in 
the process.
  Now, once again, that is not what this program was intended to do, 
nor should it be the program. And there are no prohibitions to say that 
this program will not evolve into that form. Had they simply added 
amendments we wanted to say what the purposes and the directions of 
this program were, once again it would be a very good bipartisan bill. 
But that was not allowed. It was not allowed by leadership here or in 
the Rules Committee to take that place and form.
  This Student Conservation Association once again has taken a great 
deal of stimulus funds that were added in the stimulus bill. In each of 
those, once again, there was much that was involved that was advocacy 
outside building our public lands. One of the funds got 18 grand into 
my community to assist in building a public library so that they could 
associate at the refuge center with conservation efforts. One hundred 
twenty thousand dollars was given to this group so they could go to New 
England and show legal techniques and practices of how they could use 
the legal system to reach goals that they had. That is political 
activism, which is not what this program was about, not to which this 
program should evolve into itself.
  One of the things, Madam Speaker, that was funded as part of this 
program is the Mo Udall Legacy bus tour. Actually, it was a 54-day bus 
tour promoted by the National Park Service. You can see their logos all 
the way around here, as well as Department of Interior, to promote 
sustainability in biodiesel buses. According to the kids, it was a 
wonderful 54-day trip. However, most of them actually said how great it 
was as they visited microbreweries in every one of those areas, 
especially biodiversified microbreweries.
  Actually, I don't know how successful this tour was. I don't drink 
anything harder than Dr. Pepper, so I am going to ask some of the rest 
of you around here to see if their touring, their visiting to all of 
the bars they had in the cities in which they went on this particular 
trip really was worthwhile in making that particular kind of 
evaluation.

                              {time}  1045

  Nice trip. There is nothing wrong with these guys doing this as long 
as they do it on their own dime; not on the government's dime under the 
guise of creating some kind of better lands for our public services.
  National Park Services, which will be in charge of the oversight of 
this, does not have a great record in that. In 2007, the IG in the 
Department of the Interior came up with this in one park service-
managed job corps center--$3 million of misreported expenditures and 
$200,000 of improper charges. And that is the oversight that we're 
going to have. Those types of things should have been added to the 
bill.
  We asked those to be added to the bill. It would have solved the 
problem of this particular bill, but they weren't done; therefore, 
we're here complaining about something which should have been and could 
have been a great program of bipartisan support, and it isn't.
  Let me talk about the genealogy, for, indeed, this Student 
Conservation Association that will be managing this new program was an 
offspring created by the National Park Conservation Association, the 
godfather of this program, a special interest group with a history of 
what I consider to be extreme agendas--a history of filing lawsuits 
against this government, filing lawsuits against the Second Amendment 
rights, efforts to restrict hunting and recreation that are currently 
permitted on public lands, and presently involved in a national 
courtroom crusade to destroy the benefits of coal-fired plants with 
letters, with testimony. Once again, their motives may be pure, fine. 
It's okay to do that, but not on the government dime. And this bill is 
written so loosely that it is not clear if any money goes indirectly or 
directly back to this point to do it.
  This bill, when originally established, this program, when originally 
established, was there to inspire use and needs and build needed 
programs on public lands. When this program was originally established, 
by law, it's highest priority was to generate a new generation of land 
managers trained specifically to improve public lands and specifically 
to implement the bipartisan Healthy Forest Restoration Act.
  That was, under the current system, the highest priority: to help our 
lands, stop catastrophic fires, to improve our forests. It was managed 
for that. Seventy-five percent of the money went to that particular 
issue. That is what should be done.
  But once again, in committee, when we said let's restate that at 
least as one of the important criteria--because, you see, when this 
bill was written, they removed anything that related to healthy forests 
from the language. Reinstate that. We actually said, Why don't you 
reinstate it so at least 50 percent of this goes to improving the 
forests of this country? And that wasn't allowed either.
  So there is no criteria. There is no reference once again to the 
purpose of this bill originally, which was to make sure that we had a 
healthy forest. Instead, we have an open-ended bill that could do 
anything, that could go anywhere, that may make any kind of function.
  And see, Madam Speaker, all of this could have been avoided. These 
are not tough issues. This is not one of the bills that is going to 
make or break the Republic. It could be avoided if simply the Democrat 
majority had decided to try and do something in a bipartisan way. If 
they said, These are your objections. Let's draft something to make 
sure that your restrictions are what we do as well. We didn't need to 
be here.
  As I said, the committee promised that they would work on this before 
it came to the floor. I was not privy to those negotiations. I don't 
know where it went down, but something happened that did not need to 
happen.
  And the Rules Committee, we once again took these amendments to the

[[Page H1754]]

Rules Committee and, in their typical fashion, the Rules Committee 
dropped all of them except for two. That didn't need to take place. 
Typical of what we're doing around here is simply trying to push things 
through when we don't need to do it. If we had really had a spirit of 
bipartisanship, this is something that could easily be accomplished.
  So you can sit back, if this happens to pass today, and simply tell 
yourself it could have been great. It could have been a united bill. It 
could have been something which we all could say of which we are now 
proud. But because of the process that we are using, that does not take 
place. In fact, Madam Speaker, what we are doing here is duplicative.
  AmeriCorps, if you look on their enacting legislation on page 22 and 
page 24, everything this program--which was designed to help public 
lands, especially healthy forests--everything this is now opened up to 
do is done by AmeriCorps. It's part of their program. Why not funnel 
all of the money there and avoid the duplication?
  What we are doing now is building a program that has no latitudes, no 
restrictions on what their options are, no restrictions on their 
funding. This is a hole so wide you could drive a Toyota Prius through 
it because there is nothing involved that could stop it. That is not 
the way you do good legislation. This is not the way you do good 
legislation. But it could be, and it should have been.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Madam Speaker, part of the process that we also see 
today, that we're going to experience today and have been experiencing 
for a while, is an effort on the part of my colleagues across the aisle 
to erase history and to assume that everything that we're doing today 
is somehow misconstrued to increase the deficit and that it is a 
government takeover, that it's not bipartisanship; and we're at this 
place to take corrective steps legislatively, including this 
legislation, because we are working on a history, a history of deficit 
spending, a history of no priorities, and a history that, although 
people want to erase it from memory, is there, and this is the reason 
that we're in the situation that we are right now.
  As in terms of conspiracies in terms of this legislation, the 
American Camp Association endorsed it. The National Trust for Historic 
Preservation endorsed it. The Boys and Girls Club endorsed it. Girl 
Scouts of Northern California endorsed it. The Wellness Coalition 
endorsed it. The Student Conservation Association endorsed it. The 
Hispanic Federation endorsed it. The Coalition of National Park 
Retirees endorsed it, and the National Trust for Public Lands endorsed 
it, and the Muddy Sneakers: The Joy of Learning Outside endorsed it. So 
I'm assuming that they must be also part of this vast and nefarious 
conspiracy that is going on. Somebody should advise them of that.
  With that, let me now yield to the gentlelady from the Virgin 
Islands, a member of our Committee on National Resources, Dr. 
Christensen, for 3 minutes.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Chairman Grijalva.
  And although I could be at home this weekend since I don't get to 
vote, as a physician, a family doctor, and a person who has worked all 
my life, all of my adult life to ensure that people had access to 
health care--especially minorities, people of color, those in our rural 
areas and territories who have often been left behind--I am pleased to 
be here this weekend for this historic vote.
  And Chairman Grijalva, I want to thank you for introducing this 
legislation and thank you for your leadership as chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Parks, Recreation and Public Lands and your leadership 
in preserving some of our Nation's most important treasures.
  Madam Speaker, I'm pleased to join my colleagues on the floor this 
morning in strong support of H.R. 1612, the Public Lands Service Corps 
Act. I am sure that my Park Superintendents Tutein and Hargrove are 
very much in support of this bill. In fact, Superintendent Hargrove and 
I have been trying to set up exactly what this bill would do in St. 
Thomas and St. John for several years.
  H.R. 1612, in expanding and reinvigorating an existing program, 
addresses at least two important needs. First, it creates jobs--jobs 
that are so badly needed in our Nation today; jobs in an age group that 
has the highest and most chronic unemployment. In the absence of decent 
job opportunities, they're lured into drugs and criminal activity that 
is threatening to destroy the fabric of many communities, communities 
such as mine.
  And then it helps to clear up a longstanding maintenance backlog in 
our Nation's parks and public lands, but it also begins to reestablish 
a relationship between the people in the involved communities and the 
public lands in their area.
  If I can just speak about St. John for a moment. Two-thirds of that 
island is national park, and while it is the anchor of tourism there, 
for the most part, the native population are not the major stakeholders 
in that important mainstay of our economy. And though it's a small 
community, too many of our young people in St. John are in need of jobs 
and job training, especially those that don't require that they travel 
by boat to St. Thomas every day.
  But more than that, with the Virgin Islands National Park occupying 
so much of the island, it is critical that we make more St. Johnians an 
integral part of what happens there and that they begin to regain a 
sense of belonging and ownership with our Nation that has been lost 
over the years.
  The same is true for the Salt River and the other parklands in St. 
Croix and historic Hassel Island in St. Thomas, where those same young 
men and women are also in need of job training and jobs.
  Although these public land service corps jobs would be just entry 
level jobs in the beginning, I am sure that once our young people are 
provided with the jobs and the training in preserving our national 
treasures that this bill would provide, they will want to go further.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. I yield the gentlelady an additional 1 minute.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. We will be building a cadre of new local park 
rangers, interpreters, and other positions, as well as management all 
the way up to superintendents in the future.
  So Chairman Grijalva, thank you for this bill. I am glad to support 
it.
  Mr. BISHOP. Madam Speaker, I reserve.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. I yield 3 minutes to the gentlelady from California, 
Ms. Barbara Lee.
  Ms. LEE of California. Thank you very much, Madam Speaker.
  Let me thank Chairman Grijalva for his leadership in bringing this 
bill, the Public Lands Service Corps Act, to the floor. And especially 
I want to thank you for bringing it to the floor and our leadership for 
allowing it to be brought to the floor today on such a historic day, a 
historic weekend. And Congressman Grijalva, I just want to salute you 
and Congresswoman Woolsey and all of you who fought so hard for this 
health care reform bill this weekend, especially for the public option.
  And let me just say, when we cast this vote this weekend, we will be 
casting a vote on behalf of all of those uninsured and underinsured, on 
behalf of all of those who have died prematurely because they did not 
have preventative health care. And we will be casting this vote this 
weekend on behalf of our children and our grandchildren so that they 
may live longer and healthier lives.
  So I'm very delighted that this bill is up this weekend so we would 
have a chance to talk about the importance of what we're doing within 
the context of this great bill.
  This bill will train and connect young adults to service 
opportunities on public lands, putting a new generation of Americans 
back to work, finally, while instilling in them a great respect for 
America's legacy of conservation and stewardship.
  The work done by the Public Lands Service Corps will do more than 
restore our public lands. It will also protect and preserve our 
environment, improve infrastructure, and help ensure the American 
public will always have access to the world's greatest recreational and 
scenic resources.
  The bill would also engage with NOAA to allow young adults to serve

[[Page H1755]]

near coastal and marine waters along our treasured coastlines, such as 
those near my home in California in the Bay Area.
  And we have many, many young people, especially those with the Martin 
Luther King Freedom Center, who work on many conservation projects. 
Also, they're learning about protecting our environment, ecology 
studies, nature studies. So this bill is going to be of tremendous help 
to the young people in my district.
  But perhaps more importantly, this bill will provide service 
opportunities for our youth to work in restoring and preserving our 
public lands at a time when our young adults have been particularly hit 
hardest by the economic downturn. We have to remember that the youth 
unemployment rate now stands at more than 20 percent. Although low-
income and minority youth populations face even greater challenges, 
African American youth, Latino youth, unemployment rates are now 
estimated to be as high as 42 percent.

                              {time}  1100

  In light of these harsh economic realities, I am so pleased that H.R. 
1612 would encourage Federal agencies to prioritize outreach to 
underrepresented communities and populations and take steps to prepare 
participants----
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. I yield the gentlelady 30 additional seconds.
  Ms. LEE of California. Let me just say that this bill would 
prioritize, actually, outreach to underrepresented communities and 
populations and would take steps to prepare participants for careers 
with those agencies or within related conservation fields.
  Simply put, this bill could not come at a better time. So I encourage 
my colleagues to support this bill and to provide the necessary funding 
to start this valuable program as soon as possible.
  And let me just thank you, Chairman Grijalva, once again, for your 
leadership.
  Mr. BISHOP of Utah. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Let me yield 3 minutes to the gentlelady from 
California (Mrs. Capps).
  Mrs. CAPPS. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1612, the 
Public Lands Service Corps Act. And as I do so, I note the rather 
unusual markup of this bill or vote on this bill this afternoon here, 
or this morning here in our Nation's Capital on a Saturday. We are not 
usually gathered here, but that's because we have an historic 
opportunity tomorrow to cast a vote for major health care and health 
insurance reform legislation in the House of Representatives.
  It's interesting the way the various topics are interconnected. When 
I think of health, we often think of people's health. But we can also 
think of the health and survival, really, of our environment. And then 
I also believe that this is a jobs bill because this is a bill designed 
to put our young people to work. And that has a great deal to do with 
the subject very much on our minds these days with our slow economy and 
our great unemployment rate, and as the colleague who preceded me 
mentioned, the even higher unemployment rate among our young people.
  This legislation will allow more of them to go to work and go to work 
in very healthy settings, out in the fresh air, engaged in exercise, 
learning to appreciate their natural surroundings. And I believe it 
really is a win-win all the way around.
  So let me address the legislation. This important bill would help 
prepare, repair, and restore our Nation's public lands while also 
creating jobs for thousands of young Americans. Years of inadequate 
funding have left our public land management agencies with huge 
backlogs of labor-intensive work in our national parks, our forests, 
our wildlife refuges and our historic sites. Physical infrastructure is 
crumbling, and the natural resources have been neglected.
  In many places, such as my home State of California, the effects of 
climate change are only magnifying the existing problems such as fire 
risk, damage from invasive species, coastal erosion, and fragmented 
habitat.
  H.R. 1612 will help address all of these problems by expanding and 
strengthening the Public Lands Corps. It will streamline the corps' 
management, modernize its scope and provide new tools to help the 
program accomplish its mission. It will also expand the program to 
other agencies within the Department of the Interior and to the 
Commerce Department agencies, those which manage our coastal and marine 
systems, and our national marine sanctuaries.
  This expanded public service initiative will introduce people from a 
greater diversity of social, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds to our 
Nation's parks, our forests, and our public lands, not only as possible 
future employees, but also as lifelong enthusiasts. And this bill will 
create jobs. H.R. 1612 will provide meaningful training and employment 
to young people who especially need it now while also improving the 
condition of our priceless natural and cultural resources.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. I yield the gentlewoman 1 additional minute.
  Mrs. CAPPS. As one who represents a national forest and a national 
marine sanctuary as well as a national park, the Channel Islands, I can 
attest to the great work of the Public Lands Corps and the importance 
of this legislation. So I thank you, Mr. Grijalva, for introducing this 
very important bill and for your great leadership on this issue. I urge 
my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this important legislation.
  Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Madam Speaker, may I inquire of the gentleman 
from Arizona, my good friend, wrong on all the issues, but still a 
great guy, if he has any other speakers?
  Mr. GRIJALVA. I have one additional speaker.
  Mr. BISHOP of Utah. I will reserve.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. I yield the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) 3 
minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, and to Congressman Grijalva, 
let me thank you for your leadership on this very important issue, and 
to Congressman Bishop as well for managing this legislation and 
acknowledging the concerns that may have been expressed. And I offer 
maybe this rebuttal to some of the points that have been made, and 
celebrate legislation that really recognizes that we are not here on 
the floor to only provide jobs and support the student conservation 
association, if that is what it is being interpreted as, but frankly to 
be part of fixing America's crumbling infrastructure, and certainly our 
public lands need fixing.
  Years of inadequate funding have left our public land management 
agencies with huge backlogs of labor-intensive work on national 
parklands, wildlife refuges, historic sites, and Indian lands. As we 
watch America take advantage of visiting their Capitol, for example, to 
see the many monuments and sites that are here, they don't want to come 
and see monuments that have chipped surfaces or that are dangerous to 
visit.
  And this opportunity to employ our young people and to teach them 
character and integrity is a very important part of this legislation. I 
for one have spoken to my State parks management entity asking them to 
look more carefully at the parks in inner cities, the opportunities for 
them to be designated national parks and to be able to put more parks 
in the inner cities that are under the jurisdiction of our Federal 
Government.
  Of course, that analysis takes long. But I want to applaud my own 
city of Houston that continuously looks to put public and open space 
for the many people that live in our community. Houston expects to be 
the third-largest city in the Nation. Green space, public opportunities 
to utilize parks is very important. So when I see a bill that is going 
to help fix the crumbling infrastructure, the physical crumbling 
infrastructure, the natural and cultural resources that have been 
neglected--and in many places the effects of climate change are 
magnifying earlier problems such as fire risks, damage from insects and 
invasive species, coastal erosion, and fragmented habitat--I am in 
support of this legislation
  I also come from the Gulf Coast region and have seen what happens to 
the deterioration and erosion of the Gulf Coast. In particular after 
Hurricane Ike, we are now trying to restore Galveston and those coastal 
lands to be able to provide for an economic engine. So this is a good 
bill. With a high rate

[[Page H1756]]

of unemployment among African American youth and youth around the 
country, the opportunity for them to work with their hands and minds is 
a positive step.
  This legislation will be part of the road map to help expand park 
service and ensure that our sites are maintained and kept at the level 
that they should. And I hope to be able to work with the chairman of 
this committee as I assess the needs of Houston to be able to provide 
more green space in our community. Along with this bill--tomorrow we 
will provide real health care for America by the vote I make tomorrow.
  I urge support for the legislation.
  Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  The first gentlelady from California who spoke talked about how 
important it was to start this program. May I reiterate, once again, we 
are not starting anything new. We have a program. All we are doing is 
changing things in that program. The current program has specific 
dollar amounts going which will be reviewed and specific programmatic 
responsibility, all of which were stripped out in this particular 
version.
  The gentlelady from Texas, actually, I appreciate everything she 
said, she was right on. Everything for which she argued that is 
necessary is what the original program was intended to do. The problem 
we have is--and we could have easily, easily gone along with the 
expansion of this program if they had actually allowed us to come up 
with some kind of limitations, because unfortunately, as I mentioned 
before, what we have now done with this program, 75 percent of which 
was to go to make sure that we have healthy forests, where the actual 
priority was to go to help public lands, is you have taken out all that 
language and we have simply replicated AmeriCorps.
  Once again, go on to the language of the legislation that created 
that document. On page 22 they list what they can do. It's exactly the 
same thing that has now opened up this possibility. Page 24, where can 
they go? Exactly the same thing. All we are doing is making a duplicate 
of a program that's already there when we have a good program with a 
specific goal, a specific recommendation, and we have taken out those 
specifics.
  Now I suggested that there is plenty of opportunity for abuse in this 
particular program if you don't try and limit it to what we want it to 
accomplish, because we all agree on what we want it to accomplish. The 
unfortunate thing is the language in this bill doesn't say that. It 
doesn't specify that. And so indeed we can have instead people going in 
there to provide not jobs, but to provide internships for people to go 
in and have them assist professional staff in identifying problems, 
formulating legal strategies to address those problems, providing legal 
education and direct response representation, engaging in policy 
development.
  There is nothing wrong with doing that, but not on the government 
dime. I don't have a problem with having a tour of this country talking 
about sustainability of processes and having drinking parties and all. 
That's fine, but not on the government dime. I don't mind actually 
having an agency that has a program here in Washington sponsored by the 
National Park Service, but not if it's going to teach people how to 
lead protests and sit-ins, not on the government dime. You can do all 
of these, but not subsidized by government funding. And that's what 
should be specified, that those type of activities should be beyond the 
opportunity and beyond the appropriation and beyond the concept of this 
program. That is what should have been in the bill. And had we done 
that, we would also all be singing Kumbaya or anything else that you 
want to with that.
  But this bill, as I said before, is somewhat of a metaphor for 
everything that we have been doing for a large part of this session. 
It's simply, once again, a bill that there were assurances made in the 
committee that amendments would be applied to this bill. For whatever 
reason, they are not. Instead, we are standing up here protesting a 
bill which should have been and could have been a great piece of 
legislation to move us forward towards a common goal, but for whatever 
reason it was not allowed to be written in that form.
  We are standing here on a bill that actually presents itself with a 
visual of why we need systemic change in this body. If the vast 
majority of Members were here on the floor to hear what these arguments 
are, I think they would say, yes, this is a logical limitation, it 
should be there. But as you look around, the vast majority of Members 
are not on this floor right now. So far too often we do things in a 
vacuum of understanding, which is why this body needs systemic change 
in the process that we use to reach conclusions.
  Nothing, nothing more than the changes, nothing more than the process 
we are going through this weekend, reeks of the need for some kind of 
systemic change. Because if we did that systemic change and the 
expectation were the people were here to listen to the debate, they 
were there in the committees to hear the testimony, there were there in 
the committees to be part of the markup process, I am still convinced 
that we could have a better product and a bipartisan product.
  But the process does not encourage that. The process encourages the 
exact opposite. We have a process that has evolved in the wrong 
direction, and if anything else, this weekend should show that we need 
systemic change in the process.
  This bill, this program, is still a decent program. And with some 
limitations on the amount of spending, some review on a regular period, 
and some limitations on what the product will be, what the kids will be 
working on as they go through these internships, we could have a very, 
very good positive program. And I hope before this bill actually goes 
all the way through the system, those kinds of limitations are put back 
in the bill so we can have something of which we can actually be proud.
  I urge defeat of this bill until those changes are made.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. I rise to encourage support for H.R. 1612. Part of the 
discussion today was to say, from my colleagues on the other side of 
the aisle, that it's a bad time to spend money on this program because 
unemployment is high and the deficit is high. I would respond that it 
is the perfect time for such investment.
  This program is an investment in reducing unemployment among young 
people and in the long run will save money by preventing these 
maintenance problems in our public lands from getting worse. I want to 
talk about what is in the bill. Much of the limitations that were 
talked about by my good friend are not part of--some of the points that 
he made are not even part of the legislation. But let's talk for a 
second what this bill does do.

                              {time}  1115

  H.R. 1612 will broaden the scope of the program to include more 
agencies within the Department of the Interior, NOAA, within the 
Commerce Department; to expand the purposes of this program to make 
clear that a central aim is to attract participants from diverse 
backgrounds who are underrepresented among visitors and managers of our 
public lands; require establishment of coordinators with each agency 
eligible to participate in the program so that implementation of the 
program will be more uniform and efficient; authorize these Federal 
agencies to enter into cooperative agreements with nonprofit youth or 
Conservation Corps to improve these partnerships; establish criteria 
and methodology for training programs for all participants; modernize 
the scope of eligible projects to include new challenges such as 
climate change and insect infestation; authorize participating agencies 
to provide housing for participants.
  That is what the program does do. It is an appropriate time, it is a 
necessary time, and it is an investment that will pay huge dividends 
for our public lands and our young people, and I urge its adoption.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Edwards of Maryland). All time for 
debate on the bill, as amended, has expired.

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