[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 4352-4353]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            ANTIQUITIES ACT

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I know people are anxious to go to work on 
other things, but I want to talk about something called the Antiquities 
Act. It passed in 1906. President Theodore Roosevelt was the President 
at the time. Congress wanted to give him the authority to designate 
special lands and cultural resources as national monuments, and he did 
that. Since then, 16 Presidents--8 Democrats and 8 Republicans--have 
used this 1906 act to protect America's treasures.
  For example, way back in 1922, President Harding used the Antiquities 
Act to protect the Lehman Caves. It is now a beautiful facility. I have 
been down there. They are certainly not the deepest or the biggest 
caves in the world, but they are unique and good, and we have enjoyed 
them in Nevada. That was the basis for the 1986 legislation I initiated 
to create a national park in Nevada. The only national park we have in 
Nevada is the result of the 1922 action of President Harding. That is 
why we have Great Basin National Park. It is a wonderful facility. It 
has a glacier, the oldest living things in the world, the bristlecone 
pines. It is a great park, and people from all over the world visit 
this wonderful facility. So Nevada's lone national park exists today 
because President Harding used the Antiquities Act to first designate 
the Lehman Caves.
  Some Members of Congress--frankly, it is a minority--believe we 
should repeal or gut this bill. They advocate weakening the 
Presidential authority that in the past has protected the Grand Canyon 
and even the Statue of Liberty. Who in this body thinks America has 
suffered because Presidents in the past have protected the Petrified 
Forest in Arizona, the Craters of the Moon in Idaho, and Capitol Reef, 
Bryce Canyon, and Arches in Utah? I have been to all of them, and even 
though Utah is an extremely conservative State, I have not heard one 
single Member of Congress or governmental authority say they were a 
huge mistake. They draw millions of visitors to the State of Utah with 
the beautiful lands they have there. What about Muir Woods in 
California? It is just stunningly important, and it came about as a 
result of a President designating them a national treasure under the 
Antiquities Act.
  Sixteen Presidents--eight of each party--have used this act to 
protect America's treasures.
  I am proud of what President Obama has been able to accomplish 
through the work he has done under the Antiquities Act. He has moved 
where Congress has failed to act.
  Caesar Chavez and the Chicano labor movement were honored by creating 
the Caesar Chavez National Monument in California.
  He protected Fort Monroe in Virginia in recognition of its storied 
history in defense of our Nation and the struggle for freedom for 
African Americans. It is a beautiful facility.
  We have in Honolulu the Honouliuli National Monument to remember the 
terrible internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
  Last month, President Obama protected by proclamation Pullman 
National Monument, which celebrates the history of the African-American 
labor movement in America.
  As a westerner, I appreciate what he has done to protect America's 
beautiful landscapes, such as the Rio Grande Del Norte and the Organ 
Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monuments in New Mexico, the Browns 
Canyon National Monument in Colorado, and western landscapes in 
California, Washington, and Hawaii.

[[Page 4353]]

  This is something which is so important to be done, so I am 
disappointed that I hear that on the budget bill there is going to be 
an effort made to cut the Antiquities Act. I hope not. I absolutely 
will do everything I can to protect this act. It has been in law since 
1906 and has been used by 16 Presidents.

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