Norm Dicks

Mr. DICKS

Mr. DICKS. And in good spirit. But the other body, especially some of the leadership of the other body, may not support the Endangered Species Act and would like to see it undercut a little bit. So I would not be surprised if the other side cut back funding for the Fish and Wildlife Service because they are not as enthusiastic about it as maybe we are.

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentleman yielding, and I am speaking only for myself. I appreciate the gentleman raising this issue on the floor. As my colleagues know, the committee expressed its concern regarding this trend in House Report 106-222. I assure my colleagues that we will continue to work with the gentleman and in conference to attempt to find additional resources. The committee report says that the committee is concerned about the priorities of the Service with respect to how they relate to meeting its obligations under the National Wildlife Refuge Fund. In particular, the committee questioned why this Service has continued to acquire appreciably more land over the past few years and yet has not requested additional funding for the National Wildlife Refuge Fund. This issue should be addressed in the next year's budget request, and we will continue to work with the gentleman on this issue.

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, it is a voluntary program. That is the great thing. The companies like Waterhouse, Plum Creek, Murray Pacific, they all come in, they negotiate with the Feds. But they have got to have somebody to negotiate with it. Again, I say this, if the amendment of the gentleman were to take it out of the administration nationally and give it to the regions, I could probably support that. But just to cut it out.

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman will continue to yield, one of the problems here is the private sector are the people who enter into these HCPs under the ESA, and they need to have somebody to deal with. Now, some of those people are in D.C. as well. These issues get raised up to the national level to be decided. So I am just trying to explain that there has been a tremendous increase because of all of the listings under the endangered species act. I could tell the gentleman about my own area, of the salmon listings, the Marbled Murrelets, the Spotted Owl, and the pressure not only on Fish and Wildlife but NMFS as well to work with the private sector.

Mr. DICKS. No, I am not saying that. I am just saying the Fish and Wildlife Service, and also people back here, are called upon all the time to make judgments about what the regions are doing on these plans.

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, well, we will consider that. We will think about that. I believe we have got some time between now and the end of this bill.

Mr. DICKS. I appreciate his raising it with me.

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, does that include UPARR or not? Because we understand that is going to take 30 or 40 minutes.

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I want to commend the gentleman for his amendment. We accepted it last year, we continue to work with him, and hopefully it will go further this year than it did last year.

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, it is a very strong endorsement. I support it. I think it is a good program.

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield to me?

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. (Mr. DICKS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I rise as the ranking minority member of the subcommittee in support of H.R. 2466, the FY 2000 appropriations bill for the Department of the Interior and related agencies. I, too, want to compliment the chairman, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula) and the staff of the committee, both the majority and minority staff members. Debbie Weatherly and Del Davis have done a very fine job on this bill, and all the other staff members, including Leslie Turner on my staff. I would like to thank the chairman of the subcommittee, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula), who has skillfully crafted this bill. This bill is fair and balanced and I believe adequately addresses the needs of the programs within its jurisdiction. Our allocation was not high, nearly $1 billion below the President's budget request, which required many difficult decisions. Under those difficult circumstances, I believe the bill is justly prioritized. I also add that I am extremely pleased that the bill is free of many legislative riders objectionable to the Congress. It is my firm hope that we can continue to work with the administration on a few key items which the subcommittee was unable to fund in this tight budget year. The Lands Legacy Initiative proposed by the administration was not fully funded in this bill. I am hopeful that we can continue a dialogue as the bill moves through the legislative process and perhaps make more money available for some of the key land acquisitions put forward by the President. This bill supports our national wildlife refuge system and continues critical efforts to address the needs of threatened and endangered species. These vital programs enable our agencies to achieve better ecosystem management and more comprehensive protection of our public lands. Just last week I had the pleasure of hosting several Members, including the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula), our chairman of the Subcommittee on Interior Appropriations, in my home State of Washington. We toured several area parks including the Olympic National Park in my congressional district and were able to view firsthand some of the work being done on the ground both through annual appropriations as well as through the fee demonstration project. Once again, I commend the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Regula) for his attention and elevation of the backlog needs in our parks. We need to do something about that. This bill provides significant increases in operations money to protect the treasures of the park system throughout the United States. The bill continues support for our Native American citizens and is instrumental in upholding their treaty rights. Through the Interior Appropriations bill, we support economic and educational assistance to the tribes, aid natural resource management and support tribal health programs through the Indian Health Service. Lastly, the bill provides funding to support both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Although we were not able to provide the requested increases called for in the President's budget, it is my firm hope that the House will approve funding for the endowments and we can continue to seek some increase as the bill moves through the process. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2466 and the important program it sustains. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Hinchey), a member of the subcommittee.

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), ranking Democrat on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, a good friend.

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Chairman, I just want to commend the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) for his leadership, but I know of his great concern about the Boundary Waters in his area in Minnesota. We also had another storm besides the incredible events at Mount St. Helens, the Columbus Day storm of 1962 when 8 billion board feet went down in both Washington and Oregon from an incredible storm. We have been there and seen that. In fact, that is how log exporting started in our country, because we had all this excess logs. We started exporting them to Japan and other countries. But we will be glad to work with the gentleman as we go through the process. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar).

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer), who has been a leader in this Congress on livability and particularly in the Columbia River Gorge where I had a chance to visit with him this last week.

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Missouri (Ms. McCarthy), who I know has been a leader on historic preservation issues. (Ms. McCarthy of Missouri asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders).

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word, and I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. John).

Mr. DICKS. Then we will be all right.

Mr. DICKS

Mr. DICKS. Mr. Chairman, I urge a positive vote.

Mr. DICKS. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.