Doc Hastings

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, the primary purpose of this underlying legislation is the premise that Federal lands should be open for hunting and fishing recreation rather than being closed. I believe this should be the policy of all of our multiple use Federal lands. The default option should be open regardless of whether your interests are mountain biking, rock climbing, hunting, fishing, logging, building a solar energy facility, mining, wind power, or developing oil and gas. Our Nation's multiple use lands were designed to be used for the benefit of the Nation. This open-before-closed concept is the foundation of what we are trying to do through this legislation. We are trying to raise the bar of bureaucracy that the bureaucracy has placed between hunters and the outdoors. Reckless disregard of our Nation's hunting and fishing traditions means too often our Federal lands are closed off arbitrarily, and not just without public input, but against public sentiment. Now the gentleman is proposing that we give the Secretary another new tool to close lands, without scientific decisionmaking, without accounting for their actions. The gentleman proposes that we simply grant the Secretary the sole authority to dictate that we close off any and all of our Nation's lands from hunting and fishing based simply on the Secretary's mere opinion that hunting and fishing are a threat to our Nation's land because of climate change. Hunting and fishing are traditions and foundations that this Nation was built upon. They are not burdens to our national lands. They are one of the many purposes of our national lands. Just yesterday, Mr. Chairman, before the Rules Committee, one of my Democrat colleagues was commenting that he had a BB gun at age 7 and a .22 rifle at age 12. He talked about how, as a young man, he learned to respect guns and traditions. Yet that same Member is concerned about what children are learning today--the lack of respect for guns and the traditions of the outdoors. Mr. Chairman, I believe that this is one of the many benefits and reasons that we are here today, to help restore the opportunity for hunting and fishing traditions to take root on our Federal lands, to remind our Federal land managers that the exercise of these traditions are not a burden on our lands but one of the foundations of our lands. Finally, let me say this. Regardless of one's views on our climate, this amendment is not about climate change. It is about granting the Secretary a blank check to ban hunting and fishing. Nothing in the bill changes the Secretary's ability to manage our lands to ensure responsible management. The bill does require lands to be opened, however, before closed; but when closing lands, the Secretary must act in a measured fashion to ensure that our hunting and fishing traditions are protected and valued. I urge my colleagues to reject what I consider to be an antihunting and -fishing amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time and advise my friend I have no requests for time. I am prepared to yield back if the gentleman is prepared to yield back.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. I just want to point out that the gentleman wanted to clarify by saying this doesn't give authority, but the Secretary should consider. What if the Secretary considers under current law and then decides to take action? That is the point of the argument that I made, and that is that that action, then, on climate change could cause limited or no access to our public lands. That is why I said this amendment is kind of cloaked in different clothing, because it does not speak to climate change; in fact, it speaks to the potential closing of our public lands. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I say on a personal note, I was looking for you on the floor at the end of last week. I was prepared to take Seattle and offer you 34 points. I think you probably would have taken that bet. I just want to make this point. If the gentleman will say that the results on the gridiron in New Jersey last Sunday, if the gentleman will say that the better team won--and you don't have to make any other adjectives--but if the gentleman will say that, I will be more than happy to accept this amendment.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Well, I knew that the gentleman would find something to say. I just want to say, dealing with the amendment, I think this amendment, again, in the spirit of adding more activity on Federal lands, I think this adds to it. I am prepared to support the amendment.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank Chairman Frank D. Lucas of the Committee on Agriculture for his assistance in scheduling H.R. 2166 for consideration by the House of Representatives on Monday, January 27, 2014. I submit an exchange of letters between the Committees regarding this bill. The continued cooperation shown by Chairman Lucas and his able staff on national forest issues is much appreciated, and I look forward to continuing to work with the Chairman for the remainder of the Congress. House of Representatives, Committee on Agriculture, Washington, DC, September 10, 2013. Hon. Doc Hastings, Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources, Longworth HOB, Washington, DC. Dear Chairman Hastings: Thank you for the opportunity to review the relevant provisions of the text of H.R. 2166, the Good Samaritan Search and Recovery Act of 2013. As you are aware, the bill was primarily referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, while the Agriculture Committee received an additional referral. I recognize and appreciate your desire to bring this legislation before the House in an expeditious manner and, accordingly, I agree to discharge H.R. 2166 from further consideration by the Committee on Agriculture. I do so with the understanding that by discharging the bill, the Committee on Agriculture does not waive any future jurisdictional claim on this or similar matters. Further, the Committee on Agriculture reserves the right to seek the appointment of conferees, if it should become necessary. I ask that you insert a copy of our exchange of letters into the Congressional Record during consideration of this measure on the House floor. Thank you for your courtesy in this matter and I look forward to continued cooperation between our respective committees. Sincerely, Frank D. Lucas, Chairman.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, the Committee on Natural Resources ordered S. 230 favorably reported on December 4, 2013, without amendment. However, when the bill was passed by a vote of 387-7 by the House on January 13, 2014, the Committee had not filed its bill report. For this reason, I wanted to take this opportunity to briefly elaborate on the substance of the legislation. S. 230 authorizes the Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation to establish a commemorative work on federal land in the District of Columbia and its environs. The project must be planned and constructed with non-federal funds and executed consistently with the Commemorative Works Act (CWA). Accordingly, the work is not eligible for placement in the Reserve as defined by the CWA. This legislation would not have been approved by the Committee on Natural Resources without this clear inclusion of language affirming the moratorium on new memorials within the Reserve. That being said, I am pleased that the House has enacted yet another bi-partisan bill from the Committee on Natural Resources and I look forward to future successes.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1513) to revise the boundaries of the Gettysburg National Military Park to include the Gettysburg Train Station and certain land along Plum Run in Cumberland Township, to limit the means by which property within such revised boundaries may be acquired, and for other purposes.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1513, sponsored by our colleague from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry), would revise the boundaries of the Gettysburg National Military Park. The park will now include the site known as the Gettysburg Train Station, the historic depot where President Abraham Lincoln arrived and departed via train in 1863 to deliver the Gettysburg Address. Currently, the depot is owned by the Borough of Gettysburg, but will be donated to the National Park Service. However, the depot will continue to be operated by local or nonprofit organizations. In addition, H.R. 1513 includes within the park a 45-acre parcel that has already been donated to the Park Service. Finally, I would like to thank again our colleague, Mr. Perry, for including important property-rights protections in his bill that allow the Park Service to acquire property by donation only and requires that owners be provided written consent prior to property being included into the park boundary. With that, I support the bill and reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Perry), the sponsor of this legislation.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 230) to authorize the Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation to establish a commemorative work in the District of Columbia and its environs, and for other purposes.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, S. 230 will authorize the Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation to establish a commemorative work on Federal land in the District of Columbia to recognize the foundation of the Peace Corps and the ideals upon which it was founded. The project must be planned and constructed with non-Federal funds and executed consistent with the Commemorative Works Act, which includes the moratorium for projects on the National Mall reserve. With that, I urge adoption of the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri), a former Peace Corps member.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close if the gentleman is prepared to close.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, I just want to say, which was repeated by, I think, every Member that spoke on this piece of legislation, that this legislation will require no Federal funds. And when you think about that, from the volunteer standpoint of those that went overseas and did what they did in their missions, I think that this is fitting that we should establish something from the private sector that commemorates what they have done on behalf of our government. So I think this is a good piece of legislation. I urge its adoption. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 841) to amend the Grand Ronde Reservation Act to make technical corrections, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.