[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 41 (Thursday, March 17, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S1832]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mr. INHOFE:
S. 610. A bill to provide for the conveyance of approximately 140
acres of land in the Ouachita National Forest in Oklahoma to the Indian
Nations Council, Inc., of the Boy Scouts of America, and for other
purposes; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I rise today to bring to the Senate's
attention H.R. 473. This is the HALE Scouts Act, and the House author
is Congressman Dan Boren, D-Okla. I am announcing today introduction of
a companion measure in the Senate, and I look forward to working
towards its enactment into law in the 112th Congress.
This bill authorizes the U.S. Forest Service to sell, at fair-market
value, 140 acres of land in Southeast Oklahoma to an Oklahoma Boy
Scouts group, the Indian Nations Council of Boy Scouts, which has a
camp site adjacent to this land. This campsite hosts 6,500 campers
every year and urgently needs the new expansion.
In the 110th Congress, this same bill passed the House by a vote of
370-2 in the form of H.R. 2675. The bill gained even more support in
the 111th Congress passing through the House by a vote of 388-0 as H.R.
310. CBO has written that it has no cost, and the U.S. Forest Service
testified before the relevant House subcommittee that it does not
oppose the bill. Much work has gone into this bill to get it to this
point, including hearings and House floor consideration. Senate passage
represents final action necessary for its completion.
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