[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 63 (Thursday, April 11, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2401-S2404]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Nomination of David Bernhardt

  Mr. GARDNER. Madam President, it is an exciting day for Colorado. I 
have known David Bernhardt, our nominee for Secretary of the Interior--
and the seventh Secretary of the Interior from Colorado should he be 
confirmed today--personally and professionally for over two decades. 
His roots are deep on both sides of Colorado--in the High Plains and on 
the Western Slope.
  We share a lot of common interests in rural development and in saving 
our small towns. My experience stems from growing up in the 
agricultural community of Yuma, CO, in the Eastern Plains, and Mr. 
Bernhardt's formative years were spent on the Western Slope of 
Colorado--an area that is a microcosm of all of the things that we 
cherish about our great public lands. We both began our public service 
only 1 year apart when we worked for Colorado State Representative 
Russell George, who would later go on to become speaker of the Colorado 
House. That is when I first met David. Mr. Bernhardt worked with Jaime, 
my wife, at the Department of the Interior during the George W. Bush 
administration under another Colorado Secretary of the Interior.
  His personal background and public and private sector professional 
experiences prove he is a strong voice for the West and is extremely 
well-qualified for the nomination to be the Secretary. In fact, there 
are few others who have the kind of experience that he has that enables 
him to be qualified to be Secretary. Which Secretary of the Interior 
has had more experience than David Bernhardt or has been more qualified 
to become the Secretary of the Interior? He has extensive insight on 
Western water policy, natural resources policy, and on Indian affairs, 
just to name a few.
  Those who have worked with Mr. Bernhardt commend him for his 
integrity and wealth of knowledge on the issues under the Department of 
the Interior's jurisdiction.
  In 2008, after the Department of the Interior reached the largest 
Indian

[[Page S2402]]

water rights settlement in our Nation's history, Secretary Kempthorne 
personally acknowledged Mr. Bernhardt's work as then-Solicitor and 
stated: ``His effective coordination--both within Interior as well as 
with the local, tribal, state and congressional leaders--was essential 
to the success we celebrate today.''
  More recently, he worked to accommodate many Western States' requests 
for more flexibility under the Greater Sage-Grouse RMP Amendment. John 
Swartout, who as a senior policy adviser ran point on this issue for 
Colorado's Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper, had this to say in 
December 2018 once that process was completed:

       David Bernhardt is an honest man who puts all his cards on 
     the table and keeps his word. I have worked with DOI for 25 
     years, and David is one of the finest people I have ever 
     worked with.

  That didn't come from a partisan Republican or a partisan Democrat; 
that came from a person in the Democratic Governor's office who worked 
with him on natural resource issues.
  Dale Hall, the CEO of Ducks Unlimited, which is hardly a partisan 
Republican or Democratic organization but is an organization that does 
more real conservation work on the ground than most of the groups that 
have the word ``conservation'' in their names, had this to say when Mr. 
Bernhardt's nomination for Secretary was announced:

       I have known and worked with David Bernhardt for more than 
     a decade, and we are excited to continue to work with him as 
     the new Secretary of the Interior. His integrity in following 
     the law is beyond reproach. David Bernhardt is a champion of 
     conservation and the right person for the job. We urge the 
     Senate to swiftly confirm him.

  Colleagues of his from his time spent working for Representative 
Scott McInnis, who represented Mr. Bernhardt's hometown in Colorado, 
swore he worked 40 hours a day, 8 days a week. Notably, during Mr. 
Bernhardt's tenure in his office, Representative McInnis was the House 
author of the bill that led to the designation of the Great Sand Dunes 
as being a national park. Having now worked at very senior levels in 
the Department of the Interior over the course of many years, there is 
zero question Mr. Bernhardt is qualified to do this job.
  Along with Mr. Bernhardt's professional career, I believe it is 
important to fully understand his background and the foundation of his 
interest in public lands, which further qualifies him for this role.
  Mr. Bernhardt is originally from the outskirts of the small town of 
Rifle, located on Colorado's Western Slope. Few places more fully 
embody the spirit and mission of the Agency he has been nominated to 
lead as Secretary with that understanding of this public land. Growing 
up in rural Colorado has instilled in him Western values and interests, 
and to this day, Mr. Bernhardt enjoys hunting, recreation, the 
outdoors, and fishing.
  Rifle is located in Garfield County, an area in which about 60 
percent of the lands are public lands. Rifle was founded as a ranching 
community along the Colorado River, and it retains that heritage today, 
along with tremendous opportunities for outdoor recreation, including 
fishing, hiking, skiing, rafting, and rock climbing. It also sits at 
the edge of the Piceance Basin, an area in Colorado that has vast 
amounts of natural gas.
  Mr. Bernhardt grew up in the oil shale boom and bust and has said 
that the boom and bust ``has made [him] more sensitive to the potential 
benefits and the potential impacts, both environmental and social'' of 
energy development. In the 1980s, Rifle was hit by the State's oil 
shale crash, and he personally experienced some of the hard times that 
the Nation's rural communities often face in those boom and bust 
moments.
  Much like the Department of the Interior itself, Rifle is a community 
that is a product of its public lands and Western heritage. It is 
centrally located within a few miles of the iconic Grand Mesa--the 
world's largest flat-topped mountain--the Flat Tops Wilderness, and the 
Roan Plateau. It represents a home base among these public lands with 
there being virtually unmatched access to world-class outdoor 
experiences, which is why Mr. Bernhardt has such a passion for these 
issues.
  His previous experience at the Department of the Interior allowed him 
to fix a problem for Colorado that I was told for 8 years, under the 
Obama administration, was simply not fixable. As a result, in 2018, 
revenue that had been sitting in an account in the Federal Government 
for over a decade that had been owed to three counties in Colorado were 
distributed back to these Colorado counties and to the taxpayers who 
had been owed this money. How did this get solved after a decade of 
saying it could not be solved? It is because David Bernhardt believes 
you don't just push the problems that are on your front porch onto 
somebody else's; you find a solution and you fix it.
  Prior to his current position, his previous experience includes being 
tapped to be the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior. In 2006, 
by voice vote in the U.S. Senate, Mr. Bernhardt was confirmed to be 
Solicitor. In the last Congress, he earned bipartisan support during 
his confirmation process to be Deputy Secretary.
  His integrity and ability are assets that should bolster the case for 
his nomination, not detract from it. Yet, over the course of the last 
couple of months, the Washington, DC, political smear machine has been 
working overtime to sully a good man's name. None of what we have seen 
or heard in the pages of the New York Times and in other places has 
been new information. I guess the hope is that we will take it more 
seriously because this time around, the New York Times is the one 
writing about it.
  Mr. Bernhardt has undergone two separate and extensive FBI reviews 
for both his nomination to be Deputy Secretary and his nomination to be 
Secretary. These reviews occurred after the allegations were first 
raised, and he was cleared for both positions, which is probably 
something people didn't read in the New York Times. In understanding 
that these claims had been reviewed previously to the Senate's 
committee's satisfaction, Mr. Bernhardt's nomination was reported out 
last week by a bipartisan vote of 14 to 6.
  Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the 
Record Chairman Murkowski's and Ranking Member Manchin's committee 
statements.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

   Statements From Senators Murkowski and Manchin From the Business 
          Meeting To Consider Pending Nominations (04/04/2019)


                       Senator Murkowski: (21:01)

       Good morning everyone. The Committee will come to order. 
     We're meeting this morning to consider three nominations. 
     This is for the nomination of David Bernhardt to be Secretary 
     of Department of Interior; Susan Combs to be assistant 
     Secretary of Interior for Policy, Management and Budget; and 
     Aimee Jorjani to be chair of the Advisory Council on Historic 
     Preservation. I believe that all three of these nominees are 
     well-qualified and encourage all members to vote to report 
     them favorably this morning.
       As I noted last week Mr Bernhardt, I believe, has the right 
     background. He's got the right experience to be an excellent 
     Secretary of the Interior. He has twice been confirmed to 
     positions at Interior with bipartisan support. First, to be 
     Solicitor in 2006 and then to be Deputy Secretary in 2017. 
     He's most recently served as Acting Secretary since January 
     of 2019. I understand that Mr. Bernhardt has the second most 
     prior experience at the Department out of any nominee for 
     secretary, is from the West-I like that-he has great 
     familiarity with issues that will come before him, and he's 
     proven that he can ably lead the Department.
       So, what everybody's talking about this morning. There is--
     there are accusations about his ethics. We had this 
     conversation last--or two weeks ago when--when his name was 
     before us. I think it's very clear you got some pretty well 
     funded groups that are working very hard, very energetically 
     against his nomination. We saw new allegations last week and 
     then this morning there is--is yet another report. And this 
     is all--this is all coming despite--despite the government 
     scientists involved saying that there was nothing amiss when 
     we had that conversation last week, Senator Gardner, you 
     certainly raised that. This week we're starting to see--we're 
     again seeing new reporting on old allegations. I don't think 
     that this is a coincidence, that we are seeing this kind of a 
     roundup of reporting on old stories--and I think nonstories--
     just as we're approaching the markup here.
       Interior's Inspector General has reviewed the matter as 
     part of its due diligence. It has not opened an 
     investigation. In fact, our staff checked with the Inspector 
     General's office. We were told that there are no open 
     investigations into Mr. Bernhardt. We have had as a committee 
     I believe ample time to review all of these allegations. I am 
     aware of

[[Page S2403]]

     no substantiation of them whatsoever and frankly I would be--
     I would be stunned if they were to be substantiated. I would 
     remind members that both the Office of Government Ethics and 
     the Designated Agency Ethics Official have found Mr. 
     Bernhardt to be in good standing.
       So, again, there--there will probably be a question this 
     morning, I would imagine, on--on the New York Times article 
     that is out there this morning, but I would remind colleagues 
     or ask you to look into these. These allegations again 
     contain no new infoimation. This is recycled. It's been 
     repackaged. They're now focusing on an invoice from Mr. 
     Bernhardt's prior Law Firm. The law firm has said that it was 
     labeled incorrectly. Others have said it was labeled 
     incorrectly. It didn't concern lobbying services. We have 
     known about this previous work that he has had at Westlands. 
     We knew it back in 2017 when we confirmed him as Deputy 
     Secretary. And at that time this work was not deemed 
     lobbying. So, just because it's in the New York Times this 
     morning doesn't mean that it's correct. It's my hope that as 
     a committee we will--will move forward in affirming Mr. 
     Bernhardt to be Secretary of the Interior. And then the full 
     Senate will confirm him coming up here. I think the sooner we 
     have a permanent Secretary at Interior, the better.


                        Senator Manchin: (30:50)

       Thank you Madam Chairman and I appreciate the committee--
     ensuring this committee moves forward on important 
     nominations. We have two of those nominations before us this 
     morning that I'm glad that we are reporting from this 
     committee and--the nominations of Susan Combs, Assistant 
     Secretary of Interior of Policy, Management, and Budget and 
     the nomination of Aimee Jorjani to chair The Advisory Council 
     on Historic Preservation. I think Madam Chairman gave a good 
     overview of that. Committee voted to--to report both of these 
     nominations during the last Congress, but unfortunately the 
     Senate didn't vote to confirm them before at adjourned. Each 
     time, the committee approved the nomination by voice vote and 
     I previously supported of both nominations and I intend to do 
     so again this morning.
       On David Bernhardt. As a former governor and those who have 
     served in executive positions, that I understand it, we've 
     had to ask our state senators and our Oversight committees 
     about putting in our teams together. And I've always been 
     differential to allowing an executive to put their team 
     together as long as the person is qualified and meets the 
     ethical standards. There's concerns and I respect those 
     concerns. Mr. Bernhardt, in my estimation met the test. He's 
     clearly qualified. I think we all know that. He has the 
     knowledge and experience to serve as Secretary, knows the 
     Interior Department inside and out--that might be a blessing 
     to some, maybe a concern--and he is well-versed in all the 
     issues that come before him.
       I spoke with him several times before this business meeting 
     regarding his nomination. I've reviewed his follow-up 
     questions for the record following his hearing. He has 
     answered all of our questions in a timely manner. We received 
     them back and I think it's all been made record. I even 
     talked to him earlier this week by phone again. I questioned 
     him again, extensively, about his willingness to be a good 
     steward of our nation's greatest natural resources, our 
     national parks, our monuments, and all of our historical 
     sites. I questioned him about his responsibility to balance 
     our resource needs with environmental protection in fairness 
     to the owners of our public lands, which is all of the 
     American people. I spoke to him about the need to make sure 
     that those who are granted the privilege of using our public 
     lands leave them in better condition than what they found 
     them in, which is not always the case and we've got to change 
     that. And I had extensive conversation with Mr. Bernhardt 
     regarding compliance and ethics--ethics laws and regulations, 
     as well as his potential conflict of interest. I was very 
     much concerned about that. Based on my extensive discussions 
     with Mr. Bernhardt and the assurances that he has given me, 
     I'm prepared to vote for him this morning, but I will note 
     that I expect him and the Department, now I've put them on 
     notice, hold them--hold them to the highest ethical 
     standards. And I've told him that. I said because I surely 
     will. I surely will hold him to be accountable for his 
     actions. He must work to ensure committee and a commitment to 
     ethical and scientific integrity and I intend to work with 
     him and his staff persistently to ensure that this is the 
     case. Our parks and public lands, our scenic beauty, our fish 
     and wildlife resources are important to all of us here, to 
     the people we represent, and my state, and in your states. 
     And West Virginians count on the Secretary of Interior, as 
     they do in your States also, as the guardian of our public 
     lands. . . . I intend to work with Mr. Bernhardt these 
     important issues. I've made it clear to him that I expect him 
     to put his extensive experience and knowledge of these issues 
     to work for the American people and not to people used to 
     work for. And to execute his responsibilities in the manner 
     that ensures that our public lands are not just being 
     maintained, but improved. Improved for the benefit of 
     generations to come. Thank you Madam Chair.

  Mr. GARDNER. Madam President, let's talk about that story and ethics 
for a second.
  Mr. Bernhardt has spent more than 15 years of a 25-year career in 
public service, and most of that time has been spent at the Department 
of the Interior. While in his private law practice, he never lobbied 
the Department of the Interior--not once. During his time as Deputy 
Secretary, he has focused on the fundamental transformation of the 
Department and Bureau-level ethics programs to ingrain a culture of 
ethical compliance and reduce workplace misconduct.
  The reality is that the ethics program throughout the Department of 
the Interior had been, sadly, neglected by the previous administration. 
The Office of Inspector General and the Departmental Ethics Office had 
recommended significant resource changes that had fallen on deaf ears 
under the previous administration. Under Mr. Bernhardt's direction, the 
Department has hired a total of 42 career professional ethics advisers. 
By the end of fiscal year 2019, they will have doubled the number of 
career ethics officials that the previous administration had hired in 
its entire 8 years.
  The record shows that he has actively sought and consulted with the 
Department's designated Agency ethics officials regarding compliance 
with his ethics obligations recusals.
  In addition, he has installed a robust screening process to ensure 
that he does not meet with or engage in particular matters benefiting 
the former clients from which he is recused. Every proposed meeting is 
reviewed by career professionals to ensure compliance with not only his 
ethics agreement but ethics laws and to make sure his ethics pledge to 
the President is upheld.
  His work in natural resources law prior to joining the administration 
and related ethics agreements are very similar in scope and substance 
to the private work and ethics agreements of senior Interior officials 
who came before him in previous administrations. Let me say that again. 
The same kinds of ethics agreements and obligations that basically he 
is doing are what previous administrations did as well.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter from 
the Department of the Interior Designated Agency Ethics Official dated 
March 25, 2019.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                       United States Department of


                                    the Interior, Office of   

                                                the Solicitor,

                                   Washington, DC, March 25, 2019.
     Hon. Elizabeth Warren,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Richard Blumenthal,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Warren and Senator Blumenthal: Thank you for 
     your letter of February 26, 2019 regarding your expressed 
     concerns of the actions of the Acting Secretary of the 
     Department of the Interior (Department or DOI). Your letter 
     references an article published by the New York Times on 
     February 12, 2019 discussing the Acting Secretary's legal 
     practice prior to joining the Department as Deputy Secretary 
     in August 2017. Specifically, you asked about the Acting 
     Secretary's involvement with the Central Valley Project (CVP) 
     in California and whether his actions, ``violated his ethics 
     pledge and federal conflict of interest regulations by 
     participating in decisions that directly affect a former 
     client.'' As discussed below, we have found the Acting 
     Secretary's actions have complied with all applicable ethics 
     laws, rules and other obligations, including the requirements 
     of President Trump's Executive Order 13770 entitled, ``Ethics 
     Commitments by Executive Branch Appointees'' (Jan. 28, 2017) 
     (Ethics Pledge).
       As an initial matter, I would like to take this opportunity 
     to inform you and your colleagues of recent developments and 
     improvements with the DOI ethics program that will enhance 
     our ability to prevent conflicts of interest at all levels of 
     the Department. Since our arrival at the Department in April 
     2018, Deputy Director Heather Gottry and I have overhauled an 
     ethics office that was previously characterized by both DOI 
     employees and numerous Inspector General reports as passive 
     and ineffectual. With the strong support of the Acting 
     Secretary, we have spearheaded a long-overdue build-out of 
     the Departmental Ethics Office (DEO) as well as the ethics 
     programs of the various Bureaus and Offices throughout the 
     Department.
       Our top priority as non-partisan, career ethics officials, 
     is to prevent conflicts of interest at the DOI and ensure 
     that DOI employees are aware of and comply with all 
     applicable ethics laws and standards. We understand the 
     importance of our program in helping the American people have 
     trust and confidence in the lawful and proper administration 
     of the Department.

[[Page S2404]]

       Please know that my office takes all credible allegations 
     of potential ethics violations by any DOI employee very 
     seriously and allegations against senior officials are an 
     extremely high priority. Consequently, when the New York 
     Times published its article, I immediately sought to 
     understand the facts and carefully analyzed the applicable 
     legal authorities. We note that the Acting Secretary also 
     immediately requested that my office look into this matter 
     and to examine the prior ethics advice and counsel he had 
     received.
       Of critical importance, we note that the Acting Secretary 
     does not have any financial conflicts of interest related to 
     either his former client, Westlands Water District, or the 
     CVP generally. As reflected in his Ethics Agreement, dated 
     May 1, 2017, and his Ethics Recusal memorandum, dated August 
     15, 2017, the Acting Secretary was required under 5 C.F.R. 
     Sec. 2635.502 to recuse for one year (until August 3, 2018) 
     from participating personally and substantially in any 
     ``particular matters involving specific parties'' in which 
     Westlands Water District was a party or represented a party. 
     Because Westlands Water District is an agency or entity of a 
     state or local government it is excluded from the 
     requirements of paragraph 6 of the Ethics Pledge. 
     Additionally, consistent with U.S. Office of Government 
     Ethics (OGE) guidance, it was determined that the law the 
     Acting Secretary had lobbied on for Westlands Water District, 
     Public Law 114-322, should not be categorized as a 
     ``particular matter'' because the law addressed a broad range 
     of issues and topics. Therefore, because he did not lobby on 
     a ``particular matter'' for Westlands Water District, he was 
     not required to recuse himself under paragraph 7 of the 
     Ethics Pledge either from ``particular matters'' or 
     ``specific issue areas'' related to Public Law 114-322. 
     Accordingly, the Acting Secretary's recusal related to 
     Westlands Water District ended on August 3, 2018, and was 
     limited in scope to ``particular matters involving specific 
     parties'' under 5 C.F.R. Sec. 2635.502.
       I have enclosed the transmittal e-mail from me to the 
     Acting Secretary with a detailed memorandum attached wherein 
     the DEO consolidates and memorializes prior ethics advice and 
     guidance on certain issues involving the CVP. Of particular 
     importance for a legal analysis of the scope of the Acting 
     Secretary's recusals related to Westlands Water District, the 
     memorandum analyzed and categorized certain issues involving 
     the CVP and related State Water Project as ``matters,'' 
     ``particular matters of general applicability,'' and 
     ``particular matters involving specific parties.'' As I state 
     in the transmittal e-mail, these legal categorizations are 
     critical in determining whether an official complies with the 
     various ethics rules. As reflected in the memorandum, we 
     determined that both the Notice of Intent to Prepare a Draft 
     EIS and the development of a 2019 Biological Assessment are 
     appropriately categorized as ``matters,'' not ``particular 
     matters.'' Our determinations are supported by Federal law 
     and OGE opinions and though the matters involved may sound 
     like ``particular matters'' or ``specific issue areas,'' they 
     are legally broad matters outside the scope of 5 C.F.R. 
     Sec. 2635.502. As noted above, the Acting Secretary's 
     lobbying on behalf of Westlands Water District on Public Law 
     114-322 was not categorized as a ``particular matter'' and 
     did not require an additional recusal under paragraph 7 of 
     the Ethics Pledge. Therefore, the Acting Secretary was not 
     required under either 5 C.F.R. Sec. 2635.502 or the Ethics 
     Pledge to recuse from participation in either the Notice of 
     Intent to Prepare a Draft EIS or the development of a 2019 
     Biological Assessment. Attached, for your convenience, please 
     find the legal reference materials addressed in the 
     memorandum--I believe our interpretation and application of 
     the relevant legal authorities is both reasonable and 
     prudent.
       I have advised the Acting Secretary, at his request, that 
     he and his staff should continue to consult with the DEO 
     prior to participating in any matter that is potentially 
     within the scope of his Ethics Agreement, Ethics Recusal 
     memorandum, the Ethics Pledge, or any other ethics law or 
     regulation. Additionally, to eliminate any potential for 
     miscommunication, I have instructed my staff that all ethics 
     guidance to the Acting Secretary be in writing prior to his 
     participation in a decision or action that reasonably appears 
     to come within the purview of his legal ethics obligations.
       In closing, and to be responsive to your final requests, 
     the DEO has not issued any authorizations or ethics waivers 
     to the Acting Secretary or other Interior officials on the 
     topics you raised, nor have we referred any matters to the IG 
     on these topics. It is worth noting that the Acting Secretary 
     meets with me and my senior staff frequently and that I have 
     a standing meeting with him once a week to discuss any 
     significant ethics issues at the DOI. Pursuant to the Acting 
     Secretary's direction, my senior staff also meets with his 
     scheduling staff and other top officials twice a week, at a 
     minimum, to ensure we are aware of who the Acting Secretary 
     is meeting with and the issues he will be discussing. These 
     efforts, supported by the Acting Secretary and his staff, are 
     designed to ensure his compliance with applicable ethics 
     rules and protect the integrity of the Department's programs 
     and operations. My experience has been that the Acting 
     Secretary is very diligent about his ethics obligations and 
     he has made ethics compliance and the creation of an ethical 
     culture a top priority at the Department.
       If you have any other questions or concerns, please do not 
     hesitate to contact me.
           Sincerely,

                                          Scott A. de la Vega,

                                     Director, Departmental Ethics
                     Office and Designated Agency Ethics Official.

       Enclosure.

  Mr. GARDNER. This letter is in response to a letter from Senators 
Warren and Blumenthal and states that the Ethics Office has found that 
Mr. Bernhardt's actions as Deputy Secretary and Acting Secretary ``have 
complied with all applicable ethics laws, rules, and other obligations, 
including the requirements of President Trump's executive order 13770, 
entitled `Ethics Commitments by Executive Branch Appointees.' ''
  This letter from the career head of the Department of Interior ethics 
professionals who served at the White House during the previous 
administration goes on to say:

       My experience has been that the Acting Secretary is very 
     diligent about his ethics obligations and he has made ethics 
     compliance and the creation of an ethical culture a top 
     priority at the Department.

  That wasn't in the New York Times, either, but I think it should be.
  This is not about Mr. Bernhardt's ethics or his integrity or his 
qualifications; it is about the fact that he has been and will be 
effective at implementing an agenda that the other side doesn't agree 
with because they know he will be effective in protecting our great 
outdoors and our public lands.
  I am thankful there are qualified people out there like Mr. Bernhardt 
and his family who are still willing to wade through the muck and serve 
the people of the United States, knowing that they will be called a 
liar in front of their children at a U.S. Senate committee hearing 
despite letters from top officers in charge of our ethics laws at the 
Department of Interior saying otherwise.
  I am thankful for David, and I look forward to working with him and 
his team at the Department of the Interior. I hope my colleagues will 
see through the partisan rancor, see through the lens of blue or red, 
of party politics, and confirm a man who--if you go back to Colorado 
and talk to people like Russell George, you will learn that he has the 
greatest respect not only for our public lands but for the people of 
Colorado, and for that, I am grateful for him and my colleagues who 
will confirm him today.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.