[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 8905]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1215
                PROTECT AND EXPAND MONUMENT DESIGNATIONS

  (Mr. O'ROURKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. O'ROURKE. Mr. Speaker, today marks the 111th anniversary of the 
Antiquities Act. Over more than a century, Presidents of both parties 
have preserved and opened to the public over 157 monuments, like the 
Grand Canyon by President Theodore Roosevelt, or Zion in Utah by 
President William Howard Taft, or the Pacific National Monument in 
Hawaii by President George W. Bush. It is also connected to our economy 
and jobs, with 7 million jobs in the United States connected to outdoor 
recreation in our national monuments.
  While this administration is reviewing certain monuments, we need to 
protect the ones that we already have, like Organ Mountains National 
Monument in New Mexico, or Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.
  We also need to think about expanding national monuments where we 
have heritage that we want to preserve, like Castner Range, that 
preserves 10,000 years of human history and civilization in El Paso, 
Texas, where the United States and Mexico meet.
  Mr. Speaker, let's work together to strengthen the Antiquities Act 
and not diminish its protections.

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