[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 19 (Wednesday, January 29, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S459-S460]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Nomination of Douglas Burgum

  Mr. LEE. Mr. President, Americans are paying more and getting less 
for just about everything--more for energy, more for housing, more for 
the most basic necessities--and, frankly, they are tired of it.
  Across the country, businesses are struggling with higher costs. 
Families are burdened by rising prices, and entire industries are 
stalling under the weight of heavyhanded regulations handed down from 
unelected bureaucrats in Washington, DC.
  The Department of the Interior could and should be part of the 
solution. Instead, it has been part of the problem. In fact, in many 
instances, in countless respects, it is the problem. The worst part is 
that it didn't have to be this way.
  Under Secretary Deb Haaland, the Biden administration had a choice. 
They had the tools at their disposal to alleviate the struggles of 
millions of Americans and to ensure affordable, reliable energy. 
Instead, it chose to abandon them. Instead, it chose to surrender to 
ideological zealotry and foreign powers that do not have our best 
interests at heart. Now Americans are paying the price.
  The Department of the Interior is not an Agency of limited 
consequence. It governs nearly one-fifth of the land mass of the entire 
United States. It wields the power to dictate the fate of energy 
production, water rights, wildlife conservation, and the livelihoods of 
millions of Americans, especially in public land-rich States like my 
home State of Utah. And yet, for the last 4 years, Secretary Haaland 
stood idly by, doubling down on policies that throttled domestic 
production while begging foreign adversaries to fill the gap.
  Governor Doug Burgum understands what Secretary Haaland apparently 
forgot--that abundant, affordable energy is a fundamental pillar of our 
national security as Americans. But Secretary Haaland's failures don't 
stop at energy. The Department of the Interior touches nearly every 
aspect of life in the West, from land management to water rights, often 
to the detriment of those who depend on it.
  Now, for States like Utah, where two-thirds of the land is owned by 
the Federal Government, Washington's mismanagement is not an abstract 
or a theoretical debate. The consequences that we face as a result of 
decisions made at Interior affect us in a real and profound way. 
Expanding national monuments without local input and contrary to what 
local input was given, imposing suffocating land use restrictions, and 
burying--quite deliberately--resource development under an avalanche of 
redtape are not the actions of a government that serves them. They are 
the actions of a government that rules and lords over them.
  The consequences of that mismanagement stretch higher than elevated 
prices at the pump. As wildfires ravaged the West, reducing homes to 
ash and livelihoods to memory, Secretary Haaland and President Biden 
condescendingly lectured the American people that climate change was to 
blame. Unfortunately, for them, the reality is far less convenient. 
Decades of Federal neglect have transformed our forests into kindling. 
Their refusal to engage in responsible forest management to clear the 
dead wood and to thin the overgrowth has created a

[[Page S460]]

veritable tinderbox of catastrophic proportions. And still, they 
offered nothing but platitudes and punitive regulations that all but 
ensured that the cycle of destruction would continue.
  The West faces another government-made crisis--housing. Entire 
generations are locked out of homeownership as Federal mismanagement 
hoards vast swaths of land that could be used to alleviate the crisis. 
The Department of the Interior could be an instrument of relief, 
identifying underutilized Federal lands and unlocking them for 
development.
  My bill, the HOUSES Act, shows how we can do this. But for the past 4 
years, the government has lamented housing shortages while ensuring 
their permanence. It has drawn near to the plight of the American 
people with its lips, but its heart has been shown to be far from those 
they are supposed to serve.
  Then, of course, there is water. The Colorado River, a lifeline of 
the West, is withering, strangled by indecision and regulatory 
paralysis. States plead for coordination to create a coherent strategy 
to preserve this resource for millions. What they receive, instead, are 
ditherings from an administration more interested in virtue-signaling 
than problem-solving.
  DOI desperately needs a leader who will act. Governor Burgum is that 
leader. We need a leader who grasps that our national parks--America's 
crown jewels--have great potential to be economic engines, drawing 
millions and sustaining, in some cases, entire communities. Yet 
infrastructure crumbles, visitor access is restricted, and the Federal 
Government's response is as lethargic as it is incompetent.
  Governor Burgum understands what is at stake. He has spent his entire 
career bringing people together to solve problems. He has earned the 
trust of Tribes, of businesses, conservationists, and working families 
alike. He understands that we cannot regulate our way into prosperity, 
nor can we regulate our way into abundance.
  He understands that it is not just numbers on a balance sheet or 
reports gathering dust in Washington. It is real; and for many of us, 
it is deeply, deeply personal.
  A rancher in Utah is watching his grazing rights disappear under 
arbitrary Federal decrees. A miner in West Virginia sees his livelihood 
strangled by regulations written by people who have never even set foot 
in a coal town. A small business in Arizona is struggling with soaring 
energy costs that make it harder to keep the lights on. A farmer in 
Wyoming is fighting for water that once flowed freely but is now 
trapped.
  These are the people who suffer when the Department of the Interior 
forgets its mission. These are the families who pay the price when 
Washington prioritizes leftist ideology over reality.
  Governor Doug Burgum's leadership offers a clear alternative: a 
future where the Department of the Interior serves the people rather 
than ruling over them; a future where energy abundance strengthens our 
economy and our national security; a future where public lands are 
managed with the input of those who depend on them, not dictated by 
unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats far off in Washington, DC; a 
future where housing is within reach, water is safeguarded, and natural 
resources are used responsibly to support the communities that rely on 
them; a future where Americans can depend on more than just 
serendipity; they can rely on sound policies designed to benefit them.
  Americans can and should be getting more for their dollar. Governor 
Burgum understands that and has the experience and vision to make it 
happen.
  It is time for us to confirm Governor Doug Burgum as the next 
Secretary of the Interior. It is time for us to move forward. It is 
time to accept that freedom is the destiny and birthright of the 
American people; that government exists to serve us, not the other way 
around.
  I urge my colleagues, with all the urgency I am capable of 
communicating, to swiftly and resoundingly confirm Governor Doug 
Burgum.