Cynthia Lummis

Mrs. LUMMIS

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 3079. The tribe intends to incorporate the 80 acres into what is commonly referred to as the ``Murphy Ranch,'' as the gentleman from California (Mr. Costa) just indicated, and to designate the land as part of the tribe's 2013 permanent conservation area. Once again, we have Californians coming together in a bipartisan way to do the right thing for their State. Nobody knows better than the people of their own State how best to manage their State. I think this evening's debates are an example of people coming together to do the right thing on a bipartisan basis for their State. This is how Congress should work. This is how Congress can work. Mr. Speaker, I want to salute my colleague, chairman of the Federal Lands Subcommittee, Mr. Tom McClintock, for all of his important work on this piece of legislation and other pieces of legislation. As I leave Congress, I am delighted to entrust the future of this Nation's lands and water and air to the gentleman with whom I have been having these conversations tonight and debating these very bipartisan bills, practical commonsense approaches, just what the American people want to see more of in this Congress. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. LUMMIS

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I want to commend these California Members. I have been to their districts. I have seen and been at hearings in Fresno where these issues have come to my level of understanding of now a sympathetic outsider. These issues are almost intractable. When we see bipartisan support on something this important to the economy, to the farmers and ranchers, to the wonderful ecosystems that they are trying to balance in a way that will conserve farming and ranching, that benefits every consumer in this country of some of the finest fruits, vegetables, and other commodities that you can ever imagine. I mean, this is like the breadbasket of our country. To find ways to combat nonnative species in a way that protects native species and also protects the people who produce our food and fiber is so important. I commend the gentlemen from California on both sides of the aisle and their colleagues. I want to offer my complete support of H.R. 4582. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Denham), the author of this bill.

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4582) to exclude striped bass from the anadromous fish doubling requirement in section 3406(b)(1) of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mrs. LUMMIS. 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.

Mrs. LUMMIS

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1838) to establish the Clear Creek National Recreation Area in San Benito and Fresno Counties, California, to designate the Joaquin Rocks Wilderness in such counties, to designate additional components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mrs. LUMMIS. 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.

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 1838, the Clear Creek National Recreation Area and Conservation Act, would reopen an area administratively closed by the Bureau of Land Management to off-highway vehicle and other recreational activities, designate new wilderness, and release a wilderness study area back into multiple use. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I express my support for this bill and my thanks to my colleagues from California for their hard work on this bill--on my side of the aisle, Mr. Denham and Mr. Valadao; on the Democratic side, Mr. Farr, with whom I served on the Appropriations Committee and who did a wonderful job, by the way, and Mr. Costa, with whom I now serve on the Natural Resources Committee. They are fine gentlemen, one and all, from California. Before I close, I must say I have a unique love for the State. My relative, a gentleman named Charles Fletcher Lummis, walked from Ohio to California--walked--in the 1800s, arrived in Los Angeles, and became the assistant editor of what is now the Los Angeles Times. There were only 14,000 people in Los Angeles, California. His home, El Alisal, which is between Los Angeles and Pasadena, is a State historic site in California and is a wonderful, historic place to visit. He was the first person to photograph the Penitentes ceremony, where they actually crucified some of their colleagues in a ceremony in New Mexico. He was the American who chronicled the capture of Geronimo. He was knighted by the King of Spain for being the Californian who led the designation of national historic sites for San Juan Capistrano and others of the great missions of southern California before they were destroyed. He was a magnificent, flowery character in the State of California. His friends were people like John Muir, Teddy Roosevelt, and other famous conservationists and preservationists. I am proud to be a relative of Charles Fletcher Lummis. I am proud of what California has done to balance its efforts in having a uniquely diverse culture and a fabulous agriculture and recreation economy. This is a unique State. This is a State that has pistachios and almonds and vegetables, which we all need to sustain ourselves in a way that will allow America to continue to play a role in feeding itself. I was involved in an effort to try to make sure, for our own national security, that we would continue to be able to feed ourselves in this Nation, and we thought we were going to be able to feed ourselves until around the year 2050. It has been years ago since we became a net importer of food. That is not necessary. We can grow enough food in America to sustain our population. To allow us to become a net importer of food, I think, is a mistake because we have a magnificent place like California that can outgrow almost any area of our Nation if we will only be respectful and listen to the people who live there and to the people who feed us, whether they are the farm owners or the farmworkers. These are people who want to work on California and with California so as to feed America, to support their families, and to sustain a fabulous environment. To the fine gentlemen from California who bring this bill forward and who work so hard every day to try to make sure that these different valleys and these very diverse communities come together, I offer my full support of this bill, and I commend them for their work. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the fine gentleman from California (Mr. Denham), one of the Republican cosponsors of this bill. These fine gentleman include all here present. They worked together on a bipartisan basis for one of the most economically and ecologically versatile places on Earth.

Mrs. LUMMIS

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Knight), the author of this bill.

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Knight) for his work and leadership on this legislation. I urge my colleagues to join me to honor the more than 400 individuals who lost their lives nearly 90 years ago by supporting this bill. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5244) to provide for the establishment of a national memorial and national monument to commemorate those killed by the collapse of the Saint Francis Dam on March 12, 1928, and for other purposes, as amended.

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

Mrs. LUMMIS

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2273) to amend the Colorado River Storage Project Act to authorize the use of the active capacity of the Fontenelle Reservoir, as amended.

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

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2273 was introduced by me, and it allows the State of Wyoming and the Federal Government to study, design, plan, and perform construction that will expand the active storage capacity at the Fontenelle Reservoir and Dam in Wyoming. This is a reservoir that is on the Green River. The State of Wyoming will pay for the entire expansion. It will take us up about 87,000 acre-feet. Currently, the dam is at about 260. It will take us up to about 345,000 acre-feet. It will do it by riprapping the face of the dam. Riprap is when you take broken up concrete or stone and prevent erosion on the face of the dam. The additional storage capacity will be used by my State of Wyoming. As you know, Mr. Speaker, expanding surface water storage projects in the West has to continue to be on the table. This bill allows for that expansion and does not require any additional expenditure from the Federal Government. I am in support of the bill, of course, as the sponsor. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. LUMMIS

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Chairman, we saw a bunch of ads on TV about this bill and about what it would do to the bondholders. So I did some research. I rise in support of this bill as one of the more conservative members of the Republican wing of this House. The reason I support it is the research I did showed me that it wasn't this widow that bought these bonds, it was large institutional investors. It was investors who knew what they were buying because they read the disclosure documents. It was investors who buy billions of dollars worth of bonds, and they are trying to diversify those portfolios, so they have some high-risk, high-return investments and some low-risk, low-return investments. They have different maturity dates. They come from different jurisdictions. They are trying to have a balanced portfolio. Those portfolios were purchased recognizing that some of these bonds might have a higher risk and a higher return. That higher return comes at a discounted price. So they paid a discount in hopes that they would get the higher return and that these bonds would hold up. Quite frankly, those bondholders knew what they were getting because it was even disclosed in the bond documents that Congress might be here today debating this very problem of the island's inability to repay everything. Not all general obligation bonds are created equal. The bond purchasers knew what they were getting. This bill is going to allow for the relative-to-each-other agreement among the bondholders about how to treat the bonds. Mr. Chairman, I fully support the bill.

Mrs. LUMMIS

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Wyoming Conference of Building Officials, to recognize the leadership of the Wyoming Chapter of the International Code Council (ICC) that develops and publishes the model building, safety and energy efficiency model codes used in my home state of Wyoming, and each of the other 49 states. Confidence in building safety is achieved through the devotion of vigilant guardians--building safety and fire prevention officials, architects, engineers, builders, tradespeople, laborers and others in the construction industry who work year-round to ensure the safe construction of the buildings in which we live and work. Thirty-one people from eighteen cities across the state of Wyoming attended the very first meeting of the newly formed Wyoming Association of Building Officials on January 23, 1976 in Gillette, Wyoming. The following inaugural officers were elected at that first meeting in Gillette: President Ralph Rock, Building Inspector, Gillette, WY; Vice President Joe Keefer, Building Inspector, Douglas, WY; Secretary- Treasurer Thomas W. Chambers, Cody, WY; Director R.G. Patton, Building Inspector, Cody, WY; and J.J. Ireland, Building Inspector, Cheyenne, WY. Over the past forty years the Wyoming Conference of Building Officials has provided continuing education for design professionals, fire service and the public. It has provided more than $18,000 in scholarships to Wyoming residents to attend the International Code Council's Annual Conference to learn more on the latest building standards and codes. And, it has published numerous articles in the Building Safety Journal. The current Board of the Wyoming Conference of Building officials-- President Keith Bowar of Campbell County, WY; Vice President Lyle Murdock of Wright, WY; Treasurer Billy Nunn of Jackson, WY; Director Matt Allred of Guernsey, WY; Director Ken Rogers of Gillette, WY; and Past President Bruce Wilson of Cheyenne, WY, currently represent 90 members across 48 jurisdictions. I would like to thank the thousands of men and women who work every day to make sure our country's buildings comply with the most updated building and fire safety codes. And I would like to especially thank those hard working members of the Wyoming Conference of Building Officials, celebrating their 40th anniversary of service to the citizens of the great state of Wyoming.

Mrs. LUMMIS

Mrs. LUMMIS. This year, the Land and Water Conservation Fund expired in its authorization on September 30. In October, we began reauthorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund and reforming it to get it back to its original intent. And before we could complete the process, the appropriators increased funding and reauthorized it for 3 years. We can't get the reforms we need when appropriators continue to appropriate. The burden should be on the authorizers.

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina. Scientific research is an important province of the Federal Government, and normally I support it; but I support it if it has been authorized. The programs the gentleman from North Carolina has identified have not been authorized. Therefore, it is appropriate that the gentleman from North Carolina be supported in his amendment to just reduce them to the amount that gets us to flat funding. Flat funding is a reasonable request for programs that are not authorized. Let's get those programs reauthorized, if that is what the American people want, and the Congress wants, and let's do it in a way that makes sure these programs are authorized in a way that recognizes 21st century priority. That should happen at the authorizing committee level. If it doesn't happen at the authorizing committee level, a couple of things are wrong: either the authorizing committee doesn't have its hands on the steering wheel, or the authorizing committee thinks there needs to be changes that cannot be accomplished if the appropriators keep increasing the funding. The incentive for the authorizing committee comes when these programs are flat-funded. We should not be funding programs with increases that are no longer authorized. This is a problem throughout government. It is a way to save money in a government that is $19 trillion in debt, and I applaud the gentleman from North Carolina for his conscientious, careful, thoughtful, reasoned amendment.

Mrs. LUMMIS. Will the gentleman yield?

Mrs. LUMMIS

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased this amendment will improve the stewardship of public lands, water, and natural resources throughout the West. I am pleased to see Western priorities included in this bill, from the drought-stricken California to the responsible production of strategic and critical minerals on Federal lands. They are critical to national defense and make possible modern amenities like smartphones and tablets. On tribal lands, the House amendment will empower tribes with more authority over their own land. The best forestry bill we have seen in years came from Mr. Westerman, and he just talked about it. Finally, the sportsmen's title will restore much-needed attorney fee transparency under the Equal Access to Justice Act. This law was created to help small businesses, veterans, and Social Security beneficiaries when they have to take the Federal Government to court. But it is being used on endless public lands litigation with consequences for sportsmen's access and other multiple use of public lands. Finally, this would reinstate the Fish and Wildlife Service's own rulemaking regarding gray wolves in Wyoming and Western States. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues' support.

Mrs. LUMMIS

Mrs. LUMMIS. Mr. Speaker, today in the Natural Resources Committee here in the House we heard testimony about how the Bureau of Land Management's Planning 2.0 rule might affect counties around this country that are dealing with Federal lands in their districts. FLPMA, which is the Federal Land Policy Management Act, is a law that was designed to give local government a lot of input especially in counties where there is a tremendous amount of Federal land. We heard today from counties that have 90 to 95 percent of their land owned by the Federal Government. They need input into what is going on in their districts. FLPMA contemplated that. For Planning 2.0, the new proposed rule to change that and perhaps eliminate some opportunities for local governments to have input into Federal land management decisions would be a huge mistake. I ask the Bureau of Land Management to extend the time beyond the 30 days they granted and allow 180 days for the time that local governments and other stakeholders are allowed to respond to the proposed new rule.