Cory Gardner

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Madam President, last week we had some great conversations on the floor of the Senate about the Great American Outdoors Act and the combination of two important pieces of legislation--the Land and Water Conservation Fund, first authorized 55 years ago, and the Restore Our Parks Act--both of which would be combined in the Great American Outdoors Act and the most significant piece of conservation legislation Congress has passed in nearly 50 years or more. The Land and Water Conservation Fund, of course, is funded by taking offshore oil and gas revenues, and that is how the Restore Our Parks Act would be funded as well. Both of them would take dollars generated from offshore oil and gas production. There are a few other ways that it is funded, like boat fuel excise tax revenues and others, but primarily that is the source of funding, and, after a series of formula distributions out of the Treasury, the Land and Water Conservation Fund is appropriated about $1 billion, and eventually the Restore Our Parks Act, under this legislation, would be appropriated dollars as well. Ninety-nine percent of the dollars used by the Land and Water Conservation Fund is used to purchase inholdings to complete national parks and to work on wildlife refuges and other types of important public land designations across the country. We all know that our national parks are suffering from the amount of visitors that they receive. We are grateful for the visitors, but that is a tremendous strain on roads and trails and the visitor centers across the country. For instance, in Rocky Mountain National Park, the third most heavily visited park in the Nation, there is an about $85 million backlog, including trail maintenance, visitor centers, the sewage systems, the campgrounds, and some other challenges that they could help fix with the use of these dollars. Last week I also talked about some important letters we had received, letters of support for the Great American Outdoors Act, including a letter from the outdoor recreation industry. I ask unanimous consent that this letter from the outdoor recreation industry be submitted for the Record.

Mr. GARDNER. I know tonight we will have continued conversations about the legislation and the cost of the legislation. There are some who will say that this bill isn't paid for or perhaps that the revenues aren't accounted for properly. I would like to speak to the contrary. Again, I will be speaking about this later this evening. If you look at how this bill, the Great American Outdoors Act, is funded, it doesn't cost the taxpayer money. It comes from offshore oil and gas revenue. That is revenue generated from oil and gas production on Federal land in fiscal year 2019, which totaled $11.6 billion. This is just an example of one of the years of funding. In 2019, the revenue generated from oil and gas was about $11.6 billion; $11.6 billion went into the Treasury. Right off the top of that, $2.4 billion went to the States. We don't change that. The $2.4 billion goes to the States. This bill does not change that. Another $1 billion of that $11.6 billion from back in 2019--the same formula would apply every year--another $1 billion went to Tribal entities right off the top. So $2.4 billion went to States, and another $1 billion went to Tribal entities. After that, $1.7 billion of this amount of money went to the Reclamation Fund. To get this straight, there is funding that goes out to the States, funding that goes out to Tribal entities, and funding that goes to the Reclamation Fund. Then fourth in line for this, $1 billion went to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. A curious thing happened on the way to the forum, as they say. Only $495 million got appropriated to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. So $1 billion gets taken out of the money in 2019, the $11.6 billion, with $1 billion to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, but only $495 million gets appropriated. That is because even though it was authorized to get more, that money has been syphoned off and spent on other things. And $150 million went to the Historic Preservation Fund. That is a total of $5.25 billion from 2019. That is what we accounted for so far out of that revenue: money to the States, money to Tribal entities, money to the Reclamation Fund, $1 billion to the LWCF fund even though only $495 million got appropriated, and $150 million to the Historic Preservation Fund. That left $5.35 billion that went directly into Treasury. That is the money that would be used--at least a portion of it--for the Restore Our Parks Act. You can see this is paid for. Congress just has bad habits that need to be corrected around here. We will have additional time to have that conversation this evening and obviously others about the merits of this legislation and what it means. There has been more and more talk around the country about how this isn't just about national parks and it isn't just about national forests; it is about our urban parks and urban centers. Some of our colleagues made passionate, eloquent statements about the need for access in all of our communities, to make sure we have more access for communities across the country--our urban settings, our rural settings, whether it is a ballpark or some other kind of recreation activity at a park. This is the opportunity for us to get to work, with no cost to the taxpayer, to do something we can all be proud of. I am grateful that Mr. Roosevelt would send a letter highlighting the work this Congress is doing that can stand, generations later, the test of Teddy Roosevelt's leadership and the opportunity for us to build on the leadership of President Roosevelt. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and the waiver provisions of applicable budget resolutions, I move to waive all applicable sections of that Act and applicable budget resolutions for purposes of amendment No. 1617, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, just to talk a little about bit how this bill is funded, again, the legislation relies on the use of the oil and gas revenues from both onshore for part of the bill and offshore for other parts of the bill, and that has been the tradition of the legislation since its passage in 1965 until 5 years ago, since we have had the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Of course, the new Historic Preservation Act provisions rely on these revenues as well. To give you kind of a run-through or an example of how this would have proceeded in 2019--and thanks to my colleague Senator Alexander for really pointing this out and highlighting how this funding works-- it would have been the total revenues generated from offshore production and the revenues that the Federal Government would have received from that. This gives us, I think, a good example of how this works. The revenue generated from oil and gas production on Federal land in fiscal year 2019 totaled about $11.6 billion. Of that $11.6 billion, $2.4 billion went to the States. First out of the gate was the $2.4 billion. Now, this may change from year to year, but the formula distribution is the same. So $2.4 billion of that went to the States. Another $1 billion went to Tribal entities. Then another $1.7 billion went to the reclamation funds. First, the money comes into the Treasury. It goes out to the States. Then it goes out to the Tribal entities. Then it goes out to the reclamation fund. Then $1 billion goes to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. In this last year, Congress appropriated, though, to the Land and Water Conservation Fund $495 million, and the rest of the money got siphoned off and went somewhere else. Then $150 million went to the Historic Preservation Fund, which was a total of $5.25 billion in 2019 for this distribution. That left about $5.35 billion to go directly to the Treasury. These dollars that we are using help to fund the Restore Our Parks Act to catch up with deferred maintenance. I think our colleague Senator Portman has done an outstanding job of explaining that this deferred maintenance is also considered debt. So we are actually using these dollars that have been collected from oil and gas revenues that have gone to the Treasury and have been distributed out to go to the debt and the deferred maintenance projects at national parks across the country: Colorado National; $85 million for Rocky Mountain National Park, $75 million for Mesa Verde; $8 million for the Great Sand Dunes; $7 million for Black Canyon National Park; and the list goes on and on. That is not even including the Forest Service, the BLM lands, and other efforts by the Bureau of Indian Education. That is how this revenue would work. I also wanted to point this out again to my colleagues, some of whom may have heard this before and some may not have. Today, June 15, 2020, we received a letter that was written to Senator McConnell, Senator Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader McCarthy from Teddy Roosevelt IV. This is the great-grandson of President Teddy Roosevelt. I will read it here: From east to west, America is home to incredible lands, waters, and cultural treasures. Now, more than ever, we are relying on our public lands to get outdoors, to connect with the world, to support jobs, and strengthen our communities. In this time of uncertainty, we have been given a once in a lifetime opportunity to protect our public lands and waters for all generations to come. I write to you today to urge swift passage and enactment of the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA)--legislation that will provide much needed support to the outdoor places we all depend on. This bill will fully and permanently help fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), our nation's most important conservation program, to ensure protection and increased access to public lands in every state and county in America. Additionally, GAOA will fund priority repairs in our National Parks and on other public lands to address an ever- growing backlog of maintenance needs. The letter goes on and talks about the principles of President Roosevelt and the public lands protections that this Congress continues to build upon, standing on the shoulders of those generations past so that we can preserve and protect our generations to come. I know it has been said by some of the opposition to the legislation that there are no people who live in the areas where the Land and Water Conservation Fund and Restore Our Parks Act helps, that this goes to protect States that apparently don't have enough people to merit it. Look, every State in the Union has benefited from legislation covered by the Great American Outdoors Act. Every county--nearly every county-- across the country has benefitted from programs within the Great American Outdoors Act. It is not just national parks. My town in Colorado, in the Eastern Plains, is 40 miles away from the Kansas- Nebraska border. We don't have a national park in our county. It is several hours to get to Rocky Mountain National Park. But even that little town that I live in, in that little tiny county in the Eastern Plains of Colorado, has benefited from the Land and Water Conservation Fund--whether it was decades ago, the purchase of water rights that went along with the reservoir, called Bonny Reservoir in the Eastern Plains, to help protect those water rights or recreation opportunity for youth. This is a farming community. We live in the High Plains. There are no mountains around us. There are no ski areas around us. Yet this has helped us too. It helps all Americans. It helps corner to corner across this great Nation. Tonight, we are going to be given a choice and a chance to vote on three different efforts. I hope my colleagues will join me in waiving the budget point of order, as I have laid out in my objection and in my request for a waiver. I hope my colleagues will join me in the next votes following that--one of which will require a simple majority and one of which will require, yet again, a 60-vote threshold. This is an opportunity for us to work together on a bipartisan basis--the House and the Senate, Republicans and Democrats coming together, and with the White House. They have announced their support. The President announced his support for this legislation several months ago. We come together to do something that we can build upon for this country--the greatest ideas this country has ever put forward--our public lands, our public places, and most special spaces in America. In Colorado, Wyoming, Louisiana, California, New Mexico, and in every State, we see dollars coming in and jobs being created because of this legislation--the land that this legislation represents and the policies that this legislation will cover. It is estimated that this legislation will create 100,000 jobs--over 100,000 jobs, quite frankly--just in the national parks section alone. And the way the economy is right now, every one of those jobs matters. For every $1 million that is spent in the Land and Water Conservation Fund, it supports nearly 16 to 30 jobs. For every $1 million, it supports another 16 to 30 jobs. I think one of the most important factors in the jobs analysis is where we are at in the country with the economic crisis we face. When the coronavirus came into Colorado--that first wave, the initial step-- it hit our Western Slope communities the hardest. You had a lot of international visitors coming to ski the best skiing areas in the country. You had a lot of travelers from the Front Range coming up to enjoy the weekend, and it created some big challenges from COVID-19 in those communities as a result. Some of those towns have 20 percent, 22 percent, 23 percent unemployment in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic and the shutdowns of restaurants and hotels, and the ski areas shut down a couple of months earlier than they normally would have. Of course, it didn't just impact the winter ski season and the winter recreation season. It impacted the summer recreation season. Outfitters who had their trips canceled, who had their reservations yanked because you couldn't travel or you couldn't go out, decided it wouldn't be right to stay at a hotel or maybe the hotel was closed. If you were out camping, the parks were closed as well. I think that became one of the reasons why this legislation is so important too. It is not just about the resources. It is not just about protecting the public lands. It is about the jobs that can be created in these public land communities that were hit hardest and first by that initial wave of coronavirus. That is all the more reason I hope my colleagues will join me in voting to waive the budget point of order, as well as the procedural votes that we will have this evening and the eventual passage of the legislation itself, the Great American Outdoors Act, which most likely will occur sometime Wednesday morning, maybe around noon or so. I am grateful for the support of people like Teddy Roosevelt, great- grandson of President Roosevelt. I am grateful for the support of my colleagues and the work of Senators Heinrich, Manchin, Cantwell, King, and Warner, who have been so diligent across the past several months as this legislation moves its way to passage, and of Richard Burr, who has been an incredible stalwart champion of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. I thank Senator Alexander for his work. It goes to show you this didn't happen alone. It didn't happen in a vacuum. It didn't happen because one person or one party decided to get behind it. It happened because of a group effort of people in both Chambers and at the White House to support it. Today, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reiterated their support of this legislation. The American Petroleum Institute supports this legislation. Countless environmental and conservation organizations support this legislation. Some 850-plus groups support this legislation. We have an opportunity to do something good for our country, to do something good for future generations. With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. GARDNER. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 462, S. 712.

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and passed; that the committee-reported title amendment be agreed to; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 620, submitted earlier today.

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res 619, submitted earlier today.

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Tuesday, June 16; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; further, that following leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of Calendar No. 75, H.R. 1957; further, that the Senate recess from 12:30 until 2:15 p.m. for the weekly conference meetings; finally, that all time during adjournment, leader remarks, and recess count postcloture on H.R. 1957.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate be in a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Madam President, thank you for your willingness to preside over the Chamber at this late hour, at least in the Nation's capital, midnight, here, or 10 o'clock in the great States of Colorado and Montana. My colleague and one of the lead sponsors of this legislation has been doing a lot of work this past week on the Great American Outdoors Act to make sure that we can get this across the finish line. The truly bipartisan spirit of this bill has been remarkable. I think that is kind of what I wanted to start off with my comments tonight, is really the coast-to-coast nature of this legislation, the Great American Outdoors Act, because so many people have put in not just a couple of weeks of work or a couple of months of work or a couple of years of work but decades of work on the legislation that we have before us. The Great American Outdoors Act combines two pieces of legislation: the crown jewel of our conservation programs across the Nation, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and the Restore Our Parks Act. The Restore Our Parks Act focuses on the catching up with the maintenance backlog in our national park systems. About 70 percent of the funding, $1.9 billion a year, will go towards our national parks. Additional dollars will go towards the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Land Management now headquartered in the great State of Colorado. A portion will go to the U.S. Forest Service. A portion will go to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and a portion will go to the Bureau of Indian Education. The Land and Water Conservation Fund, of course, goes toward the efforts to protect some of the greatest spaces in our Nation. I wanted to thank the people who have been working on this--and we have more work to do, to be clear--Senator Manchin, Senator Heinrich, Senator Cantwell, Senator King, Senator Warner, Senators Portman and Alexander, and Senator Daines, all have been working very diligently to make sure that we can pass this. I am sure I missed a few people, as we have talked about them tonight and will be talking about this over the next several days. The Land and Water Conservation Fund has benefited every State in the country. There are a few things that have been said on the floor today that I thought I would clear up and address because they need to be. I am going to show a chart here that talks about the States that will receive the benefit under the Great American Outdoors Act and the States that do not benefit from the Great American Outdoors Act. The States that do not benefit from the Great American Outdoors Act are highlighted in orange, and the States that benefit from the Great American Outdoors Act are highlighted in green. As you can see from this map, there are no orange States. This is an entire country-- Alaska, Hawaii--48 States that have benefited from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, who will benefit from the Restore Our Parks Act. All 50 States across the country have already benefited from these programs. The March 9 letter begins: ``The Land and Water Conservation Fund has been our nation's most successful conservation and recreation program for 55 years, now permanently reauthorized by Congress after a nationwide advocacy effort.'' That was a bill that came forward in the John D. Dingell conservation bill, the public land bill we passed last Congress. It passed this Chamber 92 to 8, another extremely bipartisan provision. The Land and Water Conservation Fund isn't just about the coast. It is not just about the interior. It is about all of our States. Half the money goes to the East; half the money goes to the West. It is distributed across the Nation. It is not a Federal land grab. I think it is important that some people want to talk about this being a Federal land grab. Ninety-nine percent of the funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund actually goes to inholdings within existing public lands, meaning if you have a place like Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado--and there is a little bit of land somehow in the middle of that--Land and Water Conversation Fund--99 percent of the funds from that have been used to purchase those inholdings. You have a significant portion of the Land and Water Conservation Fund that is not managed by the Federal Government at all. It is actually handled by the States. It is an important thing. It is baseball fields, soccer fields, and other programs the States can handle. So a huge chunk of funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund goes back to the States and out of the hands of the Federal Government. If you go to another letter we talked about before, the six previous Secretaries of the Interior sending a letter, June 3, 2020, talking about the privilege and responsibility of stewarding some of America's most scenic landscapes--incredible landscapes and natural and cultural treasures. It talked about how they are all cognizant of the critical role our public lands play in our lives, with places to recreate, recharge, and to seek solace in the midst of great uncertainty and also to create jobs. This was signed by both Republican and Democrat Secretaries of the Interior, most recently Secretary Zinke and Secretary Jewell and Ken Salazar from Colorado; Secretary Dirk Kempthorne; Secretary Gale Norton, another Coloradan; Secretary Bruce Babbitt, from Arizona, under President Clinton. This talks about the importance of the Great American Outdoors Act with how it will help ensure a better, brighter future for nature and for all of us. Speaking of sort of bright futures, some people have said on the floor that this legislation was crafted in secret. That couldn't be further from the truth. The Land and Water Conservation Fund has been around since 1965, 1964, in this Chamber. It was approved by the committee just a couple of months ago. The Restore Our Parks Act cleared the Energy and Natural Resources Committee just a couple of months ago. It was debated. There were amendments offered; they failed. We combined these two pieces that came out of committee, and we put them into the Great American Outdoors Act. That is what we are being asked to vote on tonight. Of course, the Secretary's letter talks about the dollars that will be going to our communities, the opportunities for more conservation. We talked about the letter here from the coalition. Let's talk about the jobs, too, though. It is important as we start voting tonight that we recognize that this is a jobs bill and an economic opportunity for our country. It is estimated that the Great American Outdoors Act will create over 100,000 jobs across the country. As we get our feet underneath us again, as we get back on our feet from the health pandemic, COVID-19 emergency, we have a chance to create new jobs and new students. Remember where these jobs are going to be created; they are going to be created around the country because Land and Water Conservation Fund is in nearly every county across the country. For every $1 million we spend on the Land and Water Conservation Fund, we support between 16 and 30 jobs. The national parks supports over 100,000 jobs through the Great American Outdoors Act; the Land and Water Conservation Fund, every $ 1 million, between 16 and 30 jobs. Those communities that have been impacted because of job loss--maybe their tourism season ended earlier, maybe it started late, maybe a combination of both as we faced in Colorado--those communities that have 20 percent, 22 percent, 23 percent unemployment are going to be able to gain significant economically across the country thanks to this legislation. We also have a letter here from the Archery Trade Association, the Association of Fish and Wildlife, the Boone and Crockett Club, California Waterfowl Association, Catch-A-Dream Foundation. You name it--Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation--from a March 11, 2020, letter in support of the Great American Outdoors Act. The jobs aspect of the Great American Outdoors Act, of course, is recognized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. On June 4, 2020, they sent a letter to Members of the U.S. Senate. ``The U.S. Chamber of Commerce strongly supports [S. 3422], the `Great American Outdoors Act,'--an important, bipartisan bill that would provide certainty for the Land and Water Conservation Fund [LWCF] and address the pressing maintenance and construction backlog on public lands.'' It addresses long overdue infrastructure modernization challenges, international park system, and other Federal and agricultural lands. It would also permanently authorize the LWCF, providing an important tool for smart development of open spaces in communities across the Nation. Enactment of this bill would also provide much needed funding to support and sustain funding Bureau of Indian Education schools. By setting aside 5 percent of the funds created in this act, as much as $475 million could flow to Bureau of Indian Education schools over the next 5 years. API, the American Petroleum Institute, writes in support of the Great American Outdoors Act. They start with: ``Practical, safe, and responsible offshore energy development doesn't just create jobs and power our lives--it also funds America's largest federal conservation program.'' Senators will soon vote on the Great American Outdoors Act, and they hope that we would support this legislation. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record letters from the Chamber of Commerce and API

Mr. GARDNER. Madam President, furthermore, to highlight the economic importance of this legislation, the outdoor recreation industry--these have some of the most notable names in outdoor recreation, which I think everybody would recognize: Polaris, Bass Pro, Cabela's--you name it--North Face, Patagonia. They are all on here, in support of the Great American Outdoors Act. The outdoor recreation industry is extremely encouraged by recent announcements that the Senate plans to hold a vote on the Great American Outdoors Act. As outdoor recreation business leaders, we know investments and recreation access and infrastructure are vital to the outdoor recreation industry and economies across the country. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that this letter be printed in the Record.

Mr. GARDNER. Madam President, REI--a place that Secretary Jewell knows very well--REI Co-op writes in support of the Great American Outdoors Act, talking about the impressive process that this bill came together with, the bipartisan nature of this legislation. My colleague, Senator Heinrich, from New Mexico, is on the floor. I can't thank him enough for the work we have done together and for making sure that we can get to these votes, as we approach very late hours in Washington. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter from REI Co-op, dated June 9, 2020

Mr. GARDNER. Madam President, this is about national treasures, the great American outdoors. It is about national treasures. It is about protecting these incredible places that our own biologists--not just the people of Colorado or New Mexico or the great State of Georgia-- owned by all of us. It is about some of the most scenic and majestic landscapes, unique ecosystems that they create. But it is also about a national treasure and the American people. That national treasure has been hit pretty hard over the last several months, with pandemics, conflict in our society, and racial injustice. It is this national treasure, the American people, that this legislation is focused on, the national treasure that will help create jobs and opportunity and empower people's lives, get their communities back on track, and maybe--just maybe--provide a little bit of respite to somebody who is seeking that opportunity to get outside, to get away, to find time to think. As Enos Mills said, to make them a little bit more reflective and kind during difficult times. We have a long ways to go in this legislation. We will have more debates later tonight and a vote later tonight. I hope my colleagues will support me in this legislation. It is tremendously bipartisan in nature. It has significant support of the American people. It benefits our country from sea to shining sea. We are going to have some votes next week, on Monday, as well, and perhaps Tuesday, maybe even more. But one thing this bill is not is a surprise. This bill is a collection of debates and arguments and passion and advocacy for decades. I think the argument has been won. We want to protect our country's most treasured places. Now, we just have to win the debate and make sure we can do that with the bill tonight. I encourage my colleagues to vote yes tonight and through the remaining votes that we have either today or next week to move on to passage of this legislation and the good it can do. I thank the President and I thank my colleagues. I yield the floor.

Mr. GARDNER. In Colorado, I think I mentioned before, we have an area the size of Rocky Mountain National Park that is held by the public across the State of Colorado, but it is inaccessible. You can't get to it. The Land and Water Conservation Fund provides this opportunity to get to that, to access land. I heard my colleague Senator Daines talk about how a significant portion of the fishing access in Montana--he just talked about it--is through the Land and Water Conservation Fund. We have projects in the Rio Grande National Forest through portions of Colorado and into Texas, where the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge has benefited. I think it was Will Rogers who once said that the Rio Grande was the only river he ever saw that was in need of irrigation. I think if you look at the Land and Water Conservation Fund, that is something we can all benefit from. Of course, while we don't directly border Montana, we do border New Mexico. There was an article recently featured, I think, by the Nature Conservancy, about Colorado's newest State park. It is in southern Colorado, right outside a little town called Trinidad, and it will encompass a local landmark known as Fisher's Peak. Trinidad has a great and amazing history in the West, from mining to agriculture and the challenges that mining and agriculture have posed over the years, and forestry and other things. But what they are hoping for now is that this newest State park can provide an opportunity for economic revitalization of this rural town and area. It is actually going to border right up against New Mexico, and part of that special land goes into New Mexico. Maybe someday the Land and Water Conservation Fund will be able to benefit that project. In fact, I know they are working on it, and they have received it by now. It is an opportunity for us to save rural communities. This Land and Water Conservation Fund is not all out of Washington. It is coming through the States as well, and that is an opportunity for both of our areas to prosper, particularly our rural communities.

Mr. GARDNER. I thank the Senator from New Mexico for his work on this legislation and the opportunity to continue to work together on the Great American Outdoors Act. We adjusted to the Zoom conference meetings and the Skypes and the FaceTimes. We all figured out our best way to do that. Millions of Americans were still at work each and every day at the gas station, at the grocery store, the clerks and the people stocking shelves and providing restaurant work across the country. There is a lot of stress, and this is a tense time for this country. You can see it and hear it and still feel that strain on the American people. That sort of relief valve we have as a country is our system of parks and recreation opportunities. It is about jobs. It is about the dollars they spend in communities, the gateway communities, when they go to a place like Rocky Mountain National Park. Yet it is also about that opportunity for people to get away and to find that time to think, that time to be themselves, to focus, to get into an area where they can exercise, recreate, and enjoy the environment and the resources around them. I make a joke; I don't know if anyone else laughs at it. I talk about the last several months being spent in the great indoors. It is time for the great outdoors. I think that is what we talked about. As a kid growing up, we had these road trips. We didn't fly very often, at least. It was expensive. You would drive and drive great distances. You would drive to the Grand Canyon National Park if you could or certainly drive up to Rocky Mountain National Park with the family. Maybe the great American road trip is going to come back as people adjust to what we have to do to protect ourselves from the pandemic, as economic concerns grow in this country. This provides an opportunity for all of it.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the postcloture time with respect to the substitute amendment No. 1617 expire at 5:30 p.m., Monday, June 15. I further ask that Senator Enzi or his designee be recognized prior to the vote on adoption of the substitute amendment to raise a budget point of order. Further, that following the raising of that point of order, Senator Gardner or his designee be recognized to make a motion to waive the point of order.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 3 p.m., Monday, June 15; further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed; finally, that following leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of Calendar No. 75, H.R. 1957, under the previous order.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. President, as we continue our debate today on the Great American Outdoors Act, I thought I would come to the floor one more time to talk about the benefits of this historic conservation package and what it means for the great State and the people of Colorado. Several years back, this Congress worked in a bipartisan fashion to pass legislation by Senator Shaheen and me that required the Commerce Department, for the first time in our country's history, to break out the outdoor economy as a part of our economic numbers, to determine how many jobs this country had in the outdoor industry in recreation, and to determine the overall revenues generated by the recreation economy. What we discovered was what we knew intuitively: that the recreation economy is a huge part of jobs in this country, with over 5 million jobs. In Colorado, you are looking at about a $28 billion part of our economy. If I could, I just want to talk a little bit more about what that means for Colorado and what this bill means as applied to our State, the benefits environmentally of this legislation and the economic impact it will have. I talked on the floor about the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Right around the year 2000, this legislation turned this national monument into a national park. Hundreds of thousands of people come to the valley to visit every year. What is neat about this is that it is not just a national park, the Great Sand Dunes National Park, but it is also an example of how the Land and Water Conservation Fund works together because it established the Great Sand Dunes National Park to make sure that the water resource was protected that is so instrumental to keeping the sand dunes in place. We used the Land and Water Conservation Fund to purchase elements of land around it, like the Baca Ranch and Zapata Ranch and other areas, to make sure we had this great resource maintained for future generations to come. Of course, Rocky Mountain National Park is the third most heavily visited park in the Nation. Almost 5 million visitors come to Rocky Mountain National Park every year. A few years back, there were 2.8, 3 million people. We have almost doubled the visitors in recent times, which has caused a lot of challenges for Rocky Mountain National Park. It has benefited as well from the Land and Water Conservation Fund because some of the last remaining inholdings within Rocky Mountain National Park have been purchased using the Land and Water Conservation Fund. If you look at the Restore Our Parks Act, the money in the Great American Outdoors Act that will go toward catching up with the maintenance backlog, this park has about $85 million worth of needs in terms of that backlog. It has $85 million worth of projects, from visitors centers to roads and trails. Let me show you one of those trails right here. You can see this is what it looked like. You can see the erosion and washouts. This is what happens over time with heavy use and weather. You can see the work we have been able to do to maintain and to catch up with the needs in Rocky Mountain National Park. We can do this across our Park System thanks to the Restore Our Parks Act. We will put $1.9 billion a year--paid for by oil and gas revenues--into our national parks to catch up with the maintenance and backlog needs at places like Rocky Mountain National Park. It is $85 million in Rocky Mountain National Park. It is $7 to $8 million in the Great Sand Dunes National Park. In Mesa Verde National Park, it is almost $75 million. I will show you Black Canyon of the Gunnison right now. Black Canyon of the Gunnison is in need of nearly $7 to $8 million as well for its backlog needs. This is a picture I actually took on my iPhone. This is a picture I had taken while attending a press conference to celebrate a Land and Water Conservation Fund purchase. You can see Park Superintendent Noble is pointing across the canyon to the land that was purchased using the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The canyon is right here. It is not over the horizon; it is right here. This land was on the rim of the canyon. It was not a part of the park. You can imagine, if somebody had decided to build something there and said ``Why don't we develop that? Why don't we do something else?'' what that would have meant to the national park and enjoyment of that park. Using this, they were able to get the entire rim of the canyon for the National Park System. That is where that is. If you go to this next picture, you see it is not just about national parks. The Great American Outdoors Act is not just about Land and Water Conservation Fund. It is about our forests. It is about our national forests, our Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife, and it is about the Bureau of Indian Education. This is actually a national monument. This is Dinosaur National Monument. If you go to Northern Colorado, Dinosaur National Monument straddles both the State of Colorado and the State of Utah. Some of the best white water rafting in the country goes through Dinosaur National Monument. This is amazing. This is absolutely cool. You can see these archaeologists who are actually hanging on to a wall as they do their work. This is known as the fossil wall. Hundreds of millions of years' worth of fossils are in this long wall at Dinosaur National Monument. You can see the fossils and the bones in this picture, layer after layer. It is a remarkable resource in one of the most truly unique areas of Colorado. The needs here are tremendous, too, as they face erosion and challenges from visitors and access needs to some of these resources. If you go to Mesa Verde National Park, this is truly spectacular. If you look at Mesa Verde--for those who never had a chance to go there, I hope people will have a chance to visit. This park was established in 1906. Look at this beautiful ridge. Look at the plateau. Look at the cliff dwellings. It is remarkable. It was established in 1906 to preserve and interpret the archaeological heritage of the ancestral Pueblo people who made it their home for over 700 years. The park protects nearly 5,000 known archaeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings--some of the best and most notable preserved dwellings in the United States. In 2019, they had about 556,000 visitors. This is in the Four Corners area of the State, surrounded by towns like Cortez, CO; Mancas, CO; Durango, CO--areas that rely on tourism and recreation and farming and ranching for their jobs. In 2018, visitors spent about $58 million in these local gateway regions. This supported nearly 1,000 jobs, $22 million in labor income, $40 million in value added, and about $72 million in economic help in the gateway economy surrounding the Mesa Verde National Park. They operate about $700 million worth of facilities, and they have about 10 percent of that in need of deferred maintenance. So $76 million is their total deferred maintenance needs. They need to rehabilitate the Chapin Mesa Civilian Conservation Corps. They need to replace the water, electric, information, and sewer systems. They need to replace the campground, water, and road systems. They need to improve the historic maintenance operations buildings. That is just some of the need at Mesa Verde National Park. When we talk about the Great American Outdoors Act, we talk about national parks, national forests, and BLM land and monuments, but we should also talk about recreation, because so many times this gets lost in our conversation on the floor, because it is not only recreation in terms of parks and the National Forest Service, but it is sports complexes, baseball fields, soccer fields, tennis courts--the ability for States to determine how to use these dollars. It is not just the Federal Government that takes all of this money; 40 percent goes back to the States. This is in Runyon Park in Pueblo, CO, another southern Colorado city. Look how beautiful that is and the work we can do with the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Look at the total economic impact. I think it is important that we recognize that before coronavirus, we were working on the Great American Outdoors Act, this package that presented two great American values: the crown jewel of our conservation program, the Restore Our Parks Act, and the Land and Water Conservation Fund, to catch up with our maintenance backlog, both of which are paid for by oil and gas revenues. We talked about them, and we talked about how good it would be for our environment and the conservation and preservation for future generations. We also acknowledged, then, that there was a great economic benefit. We talked about the numbers. We talked about the recreation economy. But now that economic benefit becomes even more important because the first industries that were hit by the shelter-in- place orders and the economic shutdowns were the travel industry, hotels, restaurants, tourism, outfitters, and ski areas. In Colorado, they closed down the ski areas months ahead of time. The summer recreation start has been delayed because of lingering effects of phases in restoring our economy. So the economic benefits of the Great American Outdoors Act become all the more important. Some of the hardest hit communities by the coronavirus in Colorado in the first wave have some of the highest unemployment levels in the State. Hotels emptied early, and restaurants emptied early. But this bill will create thousands and thousands of jobs, according to a report that was just released by the National Park Service. In Colorado, thousands of jobs will be created--in Colorado alone. Look at the Land and Water Conservation Fund. For every $1 million spent in the Land and Water Conservation Fund, it supports between 16 and 30 jobs. Support for 16 to 30 jobs--do you know what that means in a community that may have 20 to 22 percent unemployment? Surrounded by public lands, the Great American Outdoors Act will help to put them to work while doing what we love in Colorado, and that is protecting our environment. If you look at the overall numbers that the National Park Service provided, we are going to create and help to support over 100,000 jobs through this legislation, and, again, this is legislation that is paid for through oil and gas revenues. It was a commonsense approach back in 1965 when the Land and Water Conservation Fund was put together so that we access one resource. We deplete a resource in oil and gas. They pay a severance tax and royalty to the Federal Government, and the Federal Government turns around and uses that to protect our other resources in other areas, national parks and national forests. That is what the bill does through the Great American Outdoors Act. It creates opportunity. John Gayle, conservation director of the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and a Colorado resident says: ``The Great American Outdoors Act not only creates permanent certainty for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, America's most successful conservation and access program, it also ensures sound stewardship of our public lands and waters.'' Carlos Fernandez, Colorado State director of the Nature Conservancy says: The Great American Outdoors Act is critical to Colorado's recovery from this crisis. Of course, he is talking about COVID-19. Our mountains, trails, fields and streams have been a welcome respite for many during the pandemic, but local economies have struggled. Fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund and investing in our national parks will put Coloradans back to work, protecting important landscapes, investing in their care, and creating more outdoor recreation opportunities throughout the State. These are time-tested, effective investments in conservation that will strengthen Colorado's economy and amazing outdoors. Larry Selzer, the president and CEO of the Conservation Fund said that the ``momentum to bring a vote on the Great American Outdoors Act to the Senate floor is critical to the future vitality of America. Advancing legislation in both houses to fully fund LWCF, as well as to address the maintenance backlog on our public lands, is a huge step to support our public lands and rekindle and grow local outdoors and recreation economies.'' Will Shafroth, president and CEO of the National Park Foundation-- Will's family is legendary in Colorado politics--says this: The National Park Foundation is thrilled that the Great American Outdoors Act is moving closer to becoming law. Years in the making, this bipartisan bill would go a long way toward addressing the critical maintenance needs of our national parks. With the funds made available through this bill, we will ensure that these special places are even more special, remain accessible to all Americans, and continue to serve as economic engines for local communities. Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership: The Great American Outdoors Act is smart conservation. Senate passage of this historic and bipartisan bill will improve our natural resources and enhance access for American hunters and anglers. It also makes lasting investments in our outdoor recreation economy at a time when we need to get Americans back to work. Benji Backer, president and founder of the American Conservation Coalition: Our national parks and public lands are part of our heritage as Americans. By protecting and investing in them we will ensure that generations to come will benefit from America's best idea. The American Conservation Coalition is proud to support the Great American Outdoors Act because it will protect this heritage and support the hundreds of thousands of Americans whose livelihoods are connected to our national parks. This list goes on and on, from the Archery Trade Association to the Outdoor Industry Association. The Outdoor Industry Association said: The outdoor industry applauds the U.S. Senate for seizing the opportunity to pass the Great American Outdoors Act, a landmark piece of bipartisan legislation. Along with the social and health benefits that being outdoors provides, there is also a strong economic case for doing this now. The outdoors are bipartisan, and investing in LWCF means investing in local economies and creating thousands of jobs, both of which we desperately need right now to help the country bounce back from COVID-19. There is the Corps Network, the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, and the RV industry also. The Presiding Officer has a significant RV industry in the great State of Indiana. The National Marine Manufacturers Association--believe it or not, we have marine manufacturing in Colorado, even though we are a pretty dry, landlocked State. Look at the Motorcycle Industry Council, the Specialty Vehicle Institutes of America, the Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association, and the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation. Jeff Crane said: ``The Great American Outdoors Act represents the largest commitment to public lands in our lifetime.'' ``The Great American Outdoors Act represents the largest commitment to conservation and public lands in our lifetime.'' The National Wildlife Federation: ``Now when we need it most, the Great American Outdoors Act will put hundreds of thousands of Americans to work restoring public lands infrastructure, expanding healthy outdoor experiences, and restoring wildlife habitat, all of which will help local economies recover across the country.'' Suzanne O'Neal--I know Suzanne well--the executive director of the Colorado Wildlife Federation, said: ``This commonsense legislation is long overdue to help our national parks and other public lands meet the burgeoning demand of increased numbers of hikers, anglers, campers, and wildlife watchers who have been flocking to Colorado's outdoor spaces in recent years.'' I talked about that, the fact that Rocky Mountain National Park has gone from 2.8 million to nearly 5 million visitors. It is the third- most visited national park in the country. What happens when one area of the State gets heavily visited? It is not like they just stay in one area. They actually start going to other areas of the State. For instance, if you are in Colorado, you go to the national park, and maybe it is busy one day. So you decide to go a little bit farther. You go over toward Walden or you go over to the North Sand Dunes area or maybe you spend a little bit of time in the White River National Forest, one of the most heavily visited forests in our State. The Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest and the Pike and San Isabel National Forests are also some of the most heavily visited forests in the country. They are seeing more and more visitors because all of the other public lands are under pressure. When they are under pressure, that means they are more used, and when they are more used, they are experiencing more wear and tear and they are being loved to death. So we need to provide a way to fund it. That is what the Great American Outdoors Act does. There is the National Parks Conservation Association, the American Horse Council, and the Trust for Public Lands. Teresa Martinez, the executive director of the Continental Divide Trail Coalition, said: ``In the Rocky Mountain West, public lands and trails are vital to our region's economy and our quality of life.'' The Nature Conservancy's Sally Jewell, former Secretary of the Interior, signed a letter with six other Secretaries of the Interior to talk about the importance of this bill. Two of them are from Colorado. Secretary Ken Salazar and Secretary Gale Norton are talking about the need for this legislation. The American Society of Landscape Architects--the list goes on and on of people who support this legislation. They support it because we value the outdoors. We value our environment, and we value our public lands. Colorado has long been the gateway to public lands in this country, but now it is the headquarters to our Nation's public lands with the Bureau of Land Management headquartered in Grand Junction, CO. So these two bills put together represent that chance in a lifetime, as we have heard from many of the supporters of this legislation. In Colorado it was called ``the holy grail of conservation legislation'' by the Durango Herald this morning. It is an opportunity for every State to benefit. I have a list of every State in the country right here and the work they have done. I will just pull one out. In Alabama, if you look at Alabama, the national parks backlog is nearly $30 million. The Land and Water Conservation Fund has provided Alabama with $165 million in funding over the last five decades. Alabama National Forest, Blowing Wind Cave National Wildlife Refuge, Clear Creek Recreation Area--that is just Alabama. Let's just pull another one out and see: Florida. Florida has received $1.06 billion in funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund over the last five decades. There is the Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades Headwater National Wildlife Refuge, Apalachicola National Forest--I hope I got that one right--and the Canaveral National Seashore, plus 27 other areas. They have a $240 million backlog in deferred maintenance projects, with $75 million in the Everglades National Park. The Dry Tortugas National Park is $63 million in need. Gulf Islands National Seashore is $60.6 million in needs. All of these States have benefited from coast-to-coast, from sea to shining sea, from Hawaii to Maine and Florida to Alaska. Those are the States that have benefited from the legislation covered by the Great American Outdoors Act. In Colorado alone, the popularity of our outdoor recreation and public lands continues to grow. Over the last 5 years, visitation numbers in national parks has continued to increase. National park visitation in 2019 overall surpassed 2018 visits by more than 9 million visits. That is 327 million recreation visits across the country, over 1.4 billion recreation visitor hours, 13.8 million over the United States. That is 2019. And 2020, of course, is going to look a little different. Some of our national parks are not opened yet. Some of them are staging their openings. Rocky Mountain National Park is open, but its reservations are reduced, and the entries are reduced to accommodate the need to protect people during this pandemic. These numbers are going to be different. So that means that places like Estes Park are going to have fewer people in their restaurants and fewer people in their hotels. Fewer people are stopping at the saltwater taffy shop on Main Street in Estes, and fewer people are doing things like bumper boats and putt- putt golf along the way. The Great American Outdoors Act is one of those pieces of legislation that brings everybody in the Chamber together for a bipartisan opportunity to help these communities at a time that they need it the most. By helping the land, we are helping the communities, because it is there for future generations and because it belongs to future generations. This really is an opportunity for this Nation to come together at a time of great need economically and spiritually, and, quite frankly, to succeed. I am reminded also at this time about something I read on the floor earlier this week by one of the moving leaders of Rocky Mountain National Park. He talked about how in our national parks and trails and forests, we find the space we need to think, the space we need to hope, to provide courage, and that they can provide a little bit more kindness, that what they give to us is a little bit more kindness. I said often throughout the COVID-19 experience that we have to keep in mind, as we learned in Sunday school, that our struggles and tribulations give us perseverance, and that perseverance leads to courage, and courage leads to hope. So as we think about what Enos Mills, the father of national parks, said about the trails bringing back kindness that we all need, I think about other areas of our National Park System and some of our land areas and our national historic sites that maybe someday can benefit from the Great American Outdoors Act. I think about a specific site in southeastern Colorado known as Amache. I have legislation in that is a resource study on whether or not Amache, CO, should be considered as part of the national park system. Let me tell you the history about Amache. There is a monument down the road from this building, just a couple blocks away from here. It was the site in 1943 of a Japanese-American internment camp. With Executive order 9066, Franklin Delano Roosevelt said that Japanese people would be ripped from their homes unconstitutionally and put into these camps. In 1943, there was a high school established at Amache, and a woman by the name of Marion Konishi Takehara became a valedictorian of the high school that they had created. In the speech she wrote for her valedictorian speech, she talked about what the country meant to her today. Did the country mean the same things it meant to her before she was behind the searchlights, removed from her home? Did it mean justice and equality and fairness? Did she believe in America? She went on to talk about all of the challenges and struggles and things in our history that we know are the darkest moments of our Nation--the original sin of slavery, the continued discrimination faced by African Americans in our communities, the treatment of others in our society, waves of immigrants. She talked about how the United States has learned from every one of those moments, and we can overcome them all because America is where we learn from our mistakes in the past, and we take the actions to correct them, and we get back to the idea of justice and fairness and equality. I don't know about you, but I think that is the kind of spirit and the kind of hope and the kind of belief and faith in this country that we need right now as we face some of the biggest challenges this generation has ever seen, confronting the issues of racism, confronting the issues of inequality. Our national parks, our historic areas, and our public lands provide us with one more opportunity, one more chance to not forget the dark moments as we look for greater inspiration ahead, as we use this to learn from the past, to reach our highest peaks as a nation. That is the inspiration of the Great American Outdoors Act--the work we can do with the Land and Water Conservation Fund to bring our parks up to snuff for future generations. I know my colleague from the great State of Iowa is on the Senate floor. I thank him for his support in the work we have been doing. I yield the floor.

Mr. GARDNER. I object.