[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 186 (Wednesday, November 20, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H9083-H9084]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           NORTH AMERICAN WETLANDS CONSERVATION EXTENSION ACT

  Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 925) to extend the authorization of appropriations for 
allocation to carry out approved wetlands conservation projects under 
the North American Wetlands Conservation Act through fiscal year 2024.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                H.R. 295

       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 ``North American Wetlands 
     Conservation Extension Act''.

     SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       Section 7(c) of the North American Wetlands Conservation 
     Act (16 U.S.C. 4406(c)) is amended by striking ``not to 
     exceed--'' and all that follows through paragraph (5) and 
     inserting ``not to exceed $60,000,000 for each of fiscal 
     years 2020 through 2024.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from the 
Northern Mariana Islands (Mr. Sablan) and the gentleman from California 
(Mr. McClintock) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from the Northern Mariana Islands.


                             General Leave

  Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from the Northern Mariana Islands?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill would reauthorize the North American Wetlands 
Conservation Act, a partnership-based program that leverages non-
Federal funds to protect and restore wetland and associated habitat.
  NAWCA has enjoyed bipartisan support in the past, and this bill is no 
exception.
  The bill authorizes NAWCA for 5 years at $60 million per year.
  NAWCA is considered one of the most cost-effective conservation 
programs. Each Federal dollar invested in NAWCA is typically matched by 
more than $3 from non-Federal partners at the local and State level, 
including corporations, private landowners, and nonprofits.
  Thanks to NAWCA, almost 29.8 million acres of habitat have been 
protected.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 925 reauthorizes conservation projects under the 
North American Wetlands Conservation Act, NAWCA, through fiscal year 
2024.
  I readily concede this is a popular program. Even without an 
authorization, the appropriators put $42 million into this last year. 
The sponsors of the bill, obviously, want more, authorizing $60 million 
a year. That is higher than any appropriation to date. I am concerned 
that, in a time where we are running record and perilous deficits, we 
ought to consider the level which some of these programs should be 
funded.
  Much of the money under NAWCA is used to obtain conservation 
easements and wetlands outright to benefit migratory birds and fish. 
According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, the program has benefited 
almost 30 million acres of wetland habitat in North America since its 
inception 30 years ago. It is a very good thing.
  Here is the problem, though: The Federal Government is already 
landlord to 640 million acres of the country and is doing a poor job of 
maintaining what we already have. For example, the National Park 
Service is facing a nearly $12 billion deferred maintenance backlog. 
The question I would raise today is whether we really need to authorize 
increased funding to buy even more land.

                              {time}  1445

  It would be one thing if Congress had taken strong action to address 
this backlog by moving H.R. 1225 by Congressman   Rob Bishop, the 
former chairman and currently ranking member of the Natural Resources 
Committee.
  That was a favorably reported bill. It has overwhelming support with 
329 bipartisan cosponsors. That bill would take excess funds from new 
energy development and target these deteriorating lands so that people 
as well as migratory birds and fish can enjoy them.
  I recognize that H.R. 925 simply authorizes an existing program, but 
it is imperative to take into account the realities that our current 
Federal lands are facing. Acquiring more land when we can't take care 
of the land we already control is not a wise use of our resources.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Thompson), who is the sponsor of the bill.
  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding and I rise in strong support of my bill, H.R. 925, the North 
American Wetlands Conservation Extension Act.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, Congressman Wittman from 
Virginia, for coauthoring this measure with me and for his leadership 
on this issue; not just on this bill, but on this issue. He is a 
stalwart supporter and he works extremely hard on making sure our 
wetlands and environment are protected.
  As members of the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, Congressman 
Wittman and I have the privilege of evaluating and approving NAWCA-
funded projects in the United States, in Canada, and in Mexico.
  On that commission, we share a responsibility to ensure that everyone 
in America can use and can enjoy the natural resources that belong to 
all of us.
  Since 1989, North American Wetlands Conservation Act grants have 
funded close to 3,000 projects, carried out by more than 6,000 
partners. Every year, restoration and conservation projects funded by 
NAWCA support 7,500 jobs across our country, from fisheries biologists 
and engineers, to construction teams and supply retailers.

[[Page H9084]]

  Federal NAWCA grants require a 10-to-1 nonFederal match, and over the 
past 30 years, $1.6 billion in Federal funding has been matched more 
than 3 to 1 with $4.7 billion contributed by nonFederal partners.
  The result so far has been 29.8 million acres, an area the size of 
the State of Pennsylvania, of rehabilitated and restored wetlands. 
These wetlands support ecological health and biodiversity while 
providing outstanding opportunities for Americans to hunt, to fish, to 
hike, to bird watch, to farm, and to ranch. The resulting economic 
activity exceeds $5 billion every year.
  Even those who don't use these lands directly benefit. Wetlands 
provide natural processes that allow us to have clean, plentiful water 
supplies. Wetlands protect the lands around them by absorbing flood 
water and storm surges.
  H.R. 925 reauthorizes NAWCA so we can continue the critical work on 
North America's wetlands that offer tremendous ecological and economic 
benefits to each and every one of us.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask Members to support NAWCA today to make sure that 
we continue to conserve our public land. Let's work together today on 
behalf of all Americans, now and for future generations.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to 
the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wittman).
  Mr. WITTMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise also in strong support of H.R. 925, 
the North American Wetlands Conservation Extension Act. And I would 
also like to thank Mr. Thompson for his extraordinary leadership on 
this legislation and for his service on the Migratory Bird Conservation 
Commission.
  As he spoke about, he has a passion to make sure that we are 
preserving that habitat we all value and the wildlife that lives 
there--not just the migratory birds, but all of the other life that it 
supports. It is critically important that we continue this program. It 
is one of the truly successful stories in conservation in our Nation, 
and, again, I want to thank Mr. Thompson for his leadership.
  This bill works to reduce wetlands disappearance and to conserve 
migratory bird habitat. The good part about it is that we, in setting 
aside this land now, predominantly use conservation easements as a 
mechanism to do that.
  I understand the chairman's concern about more acres of land in the 
Federal inventory and the dollars that it takes to maintain that land. 
We absolutely have to address that. But the good news here is that many 
of these acres are in conservation easements, which means they stay in 
private ownership. They just have an easement from the Federal 
Government to maintain that critical habitat.
  That really is the best of both worlds as well as leveraging private 
dollars with this. What a great example of how to leverage public 
dollars with private dollars.
  Several years ago, the duck hunters, en masse, came and said: Listen, 
we want to increase the duck stamp fee so that we can make sure we have 
the necessary dollars to match the Federal dollars that go into this 
program. It was extraordinarily successful.
  People who enjoy the resources, from bird watchers to hunters and 
others, have said: We want to put more of our dollars into it. And, 
again, we are using their tax dollars to leverage those private dollars 
for this critical habitat.
  Our wetlands across the United States are Mother Nature's filter for 
the water that comes off the land and also Mother Nature's nurseries 
for all that critical wildlife that lives there, both fish, and birds, 
and other critters that are critical to these environments. They are 
disappearing at an alarming rate. This bill helps us stem the loss of 
those wetlands.
  As I have said, the leveraging of private resources is critical. I 
think Congress should be doing more to identify these types of Federal 
programs like NAWCA that have proven to be successful. NAWCA matches 
funding that then contributes to conservation success in our 
communities. Let's do more of that.
  Protecting and restoring and managing wetland habitats is critically 
important. I would argue, of all of the habitats out there, this 
habitat, on the scale of value, has the most value across, not just the 
United States, but across the planet. We have to do more to make sure 
we are preserving that.
  It is critical that we invest efficiently to conserve these areas. 
Investing efficiently means leveraging that one public dollar to three 
private dollars, and we want to make sure that we are preserving these 
areas for use for future generations.
  Unfortunately, wetlands continue to disappear at an alarming rate. 
This helps stem the disappearance of those wetlands.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend Representative 
Thompson and Representative Wittman for their work on this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and would inquire 
whether my colleague has any remaining speakers on his side. I reserve 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, this is, undoubtedly, a popular program. It does well 
serve public recreation and use, the very purpose of our public lands, 
and I certainly don't oppose it.
  But I do want to close with this warning: We are continuing to 
acquire more and more land while we are failing to take care of the 
enormous estates that we already hold.
  Louie Gohmert, my colleague on the Natural Resources Committee, has 
compared our Federal lands policy to the old miser in town whose 
mansion is dilapidated, whose yard is overgrown with weeds, and whose 
paint is peeling because he spends all of his time and money plotting 
how he is going to acquire his neighbor's property.
  I would like to hope that the bipartisan support for this bill will 
be accompanied soon with bipartisan support for Mr. Bishop's bill, H.R. 
1225, which would actually take the resources that we are generating 
from the public lands to assure that we are taking proper care of our 
public lands.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on this bill, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Payne). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from the Northern Mariana Islands (Mr. Sablan) 
that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 925.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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