[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 144 (Thursday, September 22, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H5816]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1215
                        PRESERVING CASTNER RANGE

  (Mr. O'ROURKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 110th 
anniversary of the Antiquities Act, 100 years of our National Park 
Service, and to thank our current President and administration for 
doing more than any administration before them to strengthen these two 
assets that we have in our country.
  But I also ask this administration to set the standard for the next 
100 years to ensure that public places like Castner Range in El Paso, 
Texas, fully tell the national story of the first Americans who were 
here more than 8,000 years ago who left their impressions of this great 
land and to ensure that every American has the chance to enter our 
public lands like the fourth and fifth graders at Collins Elementary 
who, under the direction of Mrs. Guay, left their impressions of 
Castner Range. This is a class that is 93 percent Mexican American, 75 
percent below the poverty line, and precisely the population that we 
want to see in our national lands and public parks going forward.
  Preserving Castner Range forever is a means to set the stage for the 
next 100 years of success for our national parks and our national 
lands.

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