[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 104 (Thursday, June 4, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2723-S2724]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      GREAT AMERICAN OUTDOORS ACT

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, if I may switch gears to another 
subject, briefly--on Monday, the Senate will be casting the most 
important vote on conservation legislation, outdoors legislation, that 
we have had in 50 years. That is quite a statement to make because we 
do lots of legislation in the U.S. Senate. I am not exaggerating when I 
say that. This is a piece of legislation that will do more for our 
public Federal lands--our national parks, our fish and wildlife lands, 
our Bureau of Reclamation Lands, the lands that hunters and fishermen 
use--than any piece of legislation we have passed in at least 60 years. 
In addition, it will create permanent funding for the Land and Water 
Conservation Fund, which

[[Page S2724]]

has been a goal of Congress since it was passed first in 1964 and 
reaffirmed by Reagan's Commission on American Outdoors, which I chaired 
in 1985 and 1986. Finally, we are getting around to doing both of those 
things.
  This piece of legislation that I am describing has the strong support 
of President Trump. In fact, it couldn't happen without President Trump 
because the Office of Management and Budget has to approve the method 
of funding we are using. They have approved it, and it is in the 
President's budget. It has the support of 59 cosponsors in this body--
Democrats and Republicans--who are working together on it in a 
remarkable way.
  People say that we are divided. Well, we are in lots of ways, but in 
other ways we are not. Ask Senators Burr, Cantwell, Daines, Gardner, 
Heinrich, King, Manchin, Portman, and Warner. They are all in the 
middle of this. They will all take credit for it, and I will give them 
credit for it. But everyone recognizes it takes all of us.
  Why are we all in the middle of it? We have more than 800 sportsmen 
and outdoors groups who have endorsed this bill--more than 800. You 
tell me the last time you saw President Trump, 800 outdoors 
environmental groups, and 59 U.S. Senators on both sides of the aisle 
in favor of a piece of legislation that has a policy of what I believe 
is the most important piece of outdoors legislation in a half century.
  Here is what we are talking about. We are talking about leaky roofs. 
We are talking about access roads with potholes. We are talking about 
trails that are worn out so you slip and fall down when you go to hike. 
We are talking about sewage systems that are broken, shutting down 
whole campgrounds like the Chilhowee Mountain Campground, which was 
shut for 2 years. Five hundred families usually use it every summer and 
can't go because the sewage system is shut down. We are talking about 
dilapidated visitors centers, from Washington, DC, to Pearl Harbor. We 
are talking about the Mall in Washington, DC. We are talking about our 
national treasures. We are talking about where we like to go.

  One of the organizations supporting this--or a group of them--
represents 55 million fishermen and hunters. They would like to have 
roads in order to get to the fishing holes. They would like not to 
break the axles on their tires along the way. Families would like to be 
able to go to Pearl Harbor and see a good visitors' center, and they 
would like to be able to camp in the Smoky Mountains and find that it 
is not shut down because the bathrooms don't work. That is what we are 
talking about here. This isn't exotic stuff, but it is what creates an 
environment for us to use this great American outdoors that we all 
love.
  Now, briefly, exactly how does it do that? Well, one part simply says 
that we are going to take the 419 national park properties--the 
national forests, the National Wildlife Refuges, the Bureau of Land 
Management, and the Bureau of Indian Education--that is the Indian 
schools--and we are going to take the deferred maintenance, which is 
all of those things I talked about that are broken, and over the next 5 
years, we are going to pay for half of it. We have about $12 billion in 
deferred maintenance, and over the next 5 years, we will reduce it to 
half of that.
  In the Great Smoky Mountains, for example, which is next to where I 
live, we have $235 million worth of deferred maintenance, and the park 
has a $20 million-a-year budget. Now, how long do you think it is going 
to take, with a $20 million annual budget, to deal with $230 million 
worth of deferred maintenance? It is never going to happen. It is never 
going to happen without this piece of legislation or something like it. 
That is the first part.
  President Trump, to his credit, said to go ahead and put in the bill 
the national forests, the National Wildlife Refuges, the Bureau of Land 
Management, and the Bureau of Indian Education. We have a lot of Indian 
schools in this country that are broken down and need to be fixed. He 
said to put that in there. There are also a lot of Tribal nations and a 
lot of hunters and fishermen who appreciate that support, which is why 
we have 800 different outdoor groups that are supporting it.
  Then there is a second part of the bill--the smaller part--which is 
the Land and Water Conservation Fund. It is a very simple idea that was 
recommended by President Johnson's Rockefeller division in 1964. It 
said this: Let's set aside a certain amount of money every year--$900 
million. Half will go to the States, and half will go to the Federal 
Government and buy land that ought to be protected. It might be a city 
park or it might be an inholding in a national park. It could be either 
of those things. This has been going on all that time. Yet what the 
agreement was in 1964 was that we would get the money from offshore 
drilling in order to pay for it. We would create an environmental 
burden--that is, allow offshore drilling--and we would use it for an 
environmental benefit, which is the Land and Water Conservation Fund. 
That made a lot of sense.
  So, every year, Congress has appropriated a certain amount of money 
for that, but the idea was that the amount would be certain. It would 
be $900 million every year, and that has never happened. In 1985 and 
1986, President Reagan appointed a commission to look at the American 
outdoors. I was the chairman of it. The principal recommendation was to 
make the Land and Water Conservation Fund permanent and have permanent 
funding. So, for 60 years, Presidents and Congresses have been trying 
to do this, but it hasn't gotten done. Monday is the day to get it 
done.
  My hope is that all Members of the U.S. Senate will be back here for 
votes on Monday. Some of us have been a little delinquent in our 
attendance on the Monday votes, but we need 60 votes on Monday to 
advance the bill. Then we will need 60 votes a couple of more times to 
pass the bill. Then it can go to the House of Representatives where an 
identical bill has been introduced.
  To me, it would seem that a bill like this, at a time like this, 
would be something we would all welcome and want to support. There is 
nothing any of us wants to do more than to get outside of our homes and 
get in the fresh air, and these lands are where we go. Some of them are 
city parks, and some of them are big parks, like Yellowstone and 
Yosemite and the Great Smokies. Yet they are our treasures, and they 
are run down. They are run down. The bathrooms leak. The sewage systems 
have closed camp grounds. In some cases, the visitors' centers are 
embarrassing. The roads have potholes, and the access roads aren't 
built for the fishermen. This is a chance for us to take care of that.
  I look forward to the vote on cloture on Monday. I hope we get a big 
vote and send a strong signal to the American people that we in 
Congress have heard them and that, even in a time of crisis like this, 
we can work together and do important work.
  There is one more aspect to it. This is an infrastructure bill, and 
infrastructure means lots of jobs. There are various numbers that have 
been thrown around--40,000, 100,000--but anytime you spend $14 billion 
over 5 years on projects that are ready to go in locations all over the 
country, especially in rural areas, it is going to help a country that 
has such a high unemployment rate. This is the most important 
conservation and outdoors legislation in 50 years. In addition to that, 
it is an infrastructure bill. That sounds like a pretty good vote for 
Monday.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record after my speech 
my opening statement from the hearing this morning on Going Back to 
College Safely as well as the letter from the American Council on 
Education.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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