[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 163 (Tuesday, October 2, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S6432]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Funding for National Parks

  Mr. President, first, let me mention that today, in the Energy and 
Natural Resources Committee and with a vote of 19 to 4, we passed 
legislation to help our national parks. It is historic in the sense 
that it is probably the most funding we have ever put against the long-
term maintenance problems at our parks.
  We have more visitors at our parks than ever. Yet we have crumbling 
roads and bridges and water systems. We have, literally, campgrounds 
and other areas that are closed off because of the lack of funding for 
these longer term projects, which is the deferred maintenance backlog--
about $12 billion now. We have come up with a bipartisan solution to 
try to address that by using some of the oil and gas revenues, onshore 
and offshore, from Federal lands. It is an example of how we are moving 
things forward.