Liz Cheney

Ms. CHENEY

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. General Leave

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 174 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Arizona (Ms. McSally).

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 1301 is the first step we must take in rebuilding our military. It is only a first step. We must also repeal the Budget Control Act and end sequestration if we are going to truly address our shortfalls. We must return to a rational budgeting process at the Pentagon, where spending is based upon defending the defeating threats to this Nation, not arbitrary and devastating across-the-board cuts. Mr. Speaker, nearly 70 years ago, President Harry Truman addressed this body about the growing Soviet threat to Eastern Europe. He said: ``There are times in world history when it is far wiser to act than to hesitate. There is some risk in action. There always is. But there is far more risk in failure to act.'' President Truman continued: ``We must be prepared to pay the price for peace or, assuredly, we shall pay the price for war.'' Today, Mr. Speaker, I urge that we begin to pay the price for peace. I urge support for the rule and for the underlying bill.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. GALLAGHER).

Ms. CHENEY

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, BLM Planning 2.0 is yet one more example of Obama-era Federal Government overreach. It takes authority away from people in local communities, in my home State of Wyoming, and all across the West. It takes authority away from our elected representatives at a local level, and it puts Washington bureaucrats in charge of decisions that influence and impact our lives. It significantly dilutes cooperating agency status, and it discounts input from those who are closest to our land and our resources. BLM 2.0 is an example of the midnight rulemaking that we saw that was so rampant in the Obama administration. In fact, it is an abuse of that rulemaking process. By statute, Mr. Speaker, the BLM is supposed to manage our public lands for multiple use and for sustained yield, but instead we have seen consistently throughout the last 8 years the Obama administration doing everything possible to deny all human use of our public lands. This rulemaking isn't based on the language of the statute that underlies it. It is based, rather, on policy preferences that have been expressed in memos and in various studies. The rulemaking takes another step in imposing a brand new mitigation formula that essentially is a land grab by a Federal agency that would put even more land under the control of Washington bureaucrats. Despite the fact that these agencies are required to consider costs as they impose regulations, BLM 2.0 was imposed not only using cost estimates that are clearly wrong, but, in fact, it removed all reference to looking at the devastating impact that this rule has on our local economies across the West. This rule takes away authority and power from those who know best how to manage our lands and how to manage our resources. In fact, it opens up our planning process to such an extent that we could have foreign, nongovernmental organizations having just as much say in how we manage our land and resources as the very stakeholders--the ranchers, the farmers across Wyoming and the West, and the people that they have elected to speak for them. In short, Mr. Speaker, this rule takes authority away from those who know best what we need to do to manage and sustain our resources, and it puts it in the hands of the Federal Government and bureaucrats here in Washington, D.C. Repealing 2.0 using the Congressional Review Act will help to restore the voices and input. It will help to restore democracy and help to restore authority to our local communities. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, we know that government that is closest to the people is best. What we have seen over the last 8 years, unfortunately, in Washington, D.C., has been a massive expansion of the authority and the overreach of the Federal Government under the Obama administration. We have seen a number of instances where agencies have acted outside of the law, in some instances outside of the Constitution. BLM 2.0 is an example of where this agency is acting completely outside of the law. There is absolutely no legal authority, no statutory language on which they can base this rulemaking, on which they can base the fundamental changes that they are making and the fundamental power grab that they are making. It is hugely important for us, as we go forward here, to make sure that we have done everything we can to roll back regulations that are really killing our jobs, that are preventing people in our local communities from being able to make a living, from being able to consistently graze, for example, on these public lands. It is absolutely outside of the law to have a situation, as 2.0 would create, where people who have never been to these lands, people who, frankly, may not even be in the United States, have just as much a say in how we manage our lands as a rancher who has got to graze on those lands or as the county commissioners who are charged with making decisions about those lands. A number of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have mentioned today the thousands of comments that the BLM sought as they were going through this rulemaking process. The problem is that there is very little evidence that any of those comments were taken into account in the final rulemaking. As I mentioned earlier, the track record with respect to the BLM listening to and being willing to take into account local concerns is a very bad one in which you have got State agencies that are led to believe they will have an impact and then find themselves having radio silence, essentially, from the BLM. Mr. Speaker, Planning 2.0 is a dangerous and damaging rule. Overturning it today, through the Congressional Review Act, through this joint resolution, will enable us to begin to restore authority where it belongs: with our local communities, with our local elected officials. Those who are closest to the land, those who have to work on the land, those who make a living on the land are the absolute best stewards of our land and of our resources. Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of this measure to repeal BLM Planning 2.0. I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, we have nearly 100 State and local groups supporting repeal of BLM 2.0. These are groups like the National Association of Counties, National Association of Conservation Districts, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Public Lands Council, Western Energy Alliance, National Mining Association, Petroleum Association of Wyoming, as well as a number of Governors and local officials, including my home State Governor, Matt Mead. Mr. Speaker, I include a letter from Governor Mead in support of this joint resolution and a joint letter from numerous other governmental and association groups in support of this joint resolution. The State of Wyoming, Office of the Governor, Wyoming, January 20, 2017. Hon. Paul Ryan, Speaker, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Hon. Steve Scalise, House Majority Whip, House of Representatives, Washington,

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Stewart).

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman).

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Gosar).

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy), who is the majority leader.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa).

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Virginia may not be completely aware of the implementation and the effect of this rule in Western States like Wyoming where, for example, the process that has been described as an open process is, in fact, one where, in my State, our Department of Environmental Quality on another BLM rule was in a position where they agreed to be a cooperating agency and then did not hear from the BLM for 4 years. When you are talking about our very livelihood, you are in a situation where we simply can't run that risk. We cannot adopt a rule or let a rule stand that expands that kind of authority in Washington, no matter who is in charge in Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tipton).

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock).

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Bishop), the chairman of the Natural Resources Committee.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.J. Res. 44.

Ms. CHENEY. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 91, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 44) disapproving the rule submitted by the Department of the Interior relating to Bureau of Land Management regulations that establish the procedures used to prepare, revise, or amend land use plans pursuant to the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Ms. CHENEY

Ms. CHENEY. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. CHENEY. Madam Speaker, under the Constitution, all funds for the District of Columbia are appropriated by the United States Congress, so we in the Congress bear a particular and additional responsibility for funds in the District of Columbia. I would also note, Madam Speaker, that there are no limitations in the District of Columbia on when an abortion can be performed; and therefore, if we were to lift this amendment, if we were not to have this rule in place, you could potentially have the U.S. taxpayers in a situation where they were being forced to fund even late-term abortions in the District of Columbia, which is fundamentally against the Hyde amendment, fundamentally against everything that we have supported and against the majority of the people in this Nation. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions), the chairman of the Committee on Rules.

Ms. CHENEY. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).

Ms. CHENEY. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.