Public Lands Package

Floor Speech

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Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, I want to share some comments on what we saw happen here tonight as it relates to the public lands package. We saw a glimpse here tonight of, on the one hand, how this institution can really come together--years of bipartisan work, years of collaboration on the ground back in our respective States--and come together to put together a lands package and ask for a simple up-or- down vote tonight in the Senate.

I am very confident that had we had the opportunity to have voted here tonight, you would have seen this lands package pass the Senate by at least a 2-to-1 margin. It would have gone to the House, and it would have passed. It would have gone to President Trump's desk, and I am confident he would have signed it.

We have been fighting for permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund because of what happened right here tonight-- the uncertainty of this institution, where 98 Senators can say ``Let's move ahead for a vote''; 2 Senators say no, and we weren't able to have a vote tonight.

It is OK to oppose legislation. That is the American process--for each of us to come down here and express our respective opinions. Some will say yes; some will say no. What we were asking for here tonight is to have that debate on the floor. Let's have that vote on the floor, and let the Senators respectively speak on behalf of the people who sent them here in the first place to represent their interests.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund--the reason we need to permanently reauthorize it is that tonight you could see that we didn't get it done. In fact, it expired on September 30, and here we are, halfway through December, and we still do not have the reauthorization of LWCF. That is why we need to make it permanent; you can't depend on this institution.

So often, for the transaction required back in our home States, where we use LWCF funds to access our public lands with a checkerboard-nature ownership structure of many, many places out West, it takes years to put together these deals--private landowners, the State, the Federal Government coming together. When the Federal Government--the U.S. Congress--can't get its job done, it creates uncertainty. Consequently, who loses when there is uncertainty? The American people lose.

That is why we need to permanently reauthorize it. It actually creates more certainty in taking care of a lot of these complex land issues out West, and it saves taxpayers' dollars.

By the way, as Senator Burr has said over and over again, LWCF doesn't cost the taxpayer anything. It doesn't cost the taxpayer anything.

That was in this bill tonight to permanently reauthorize it. It didn't get done.

As you read through the titles of these various bills, you hear the stories. There may be what looks like one little line item here in section 1009, S. 1219. There is some little obscure title that a guy from Montana has no idea what is going on in Louisiana or Tennessee or Alaska or Colorado, but I know back in those respective communities, there is a lot of hard work bringing people together, collaboratives to come together to put together a bill that we then bring to Congress. We move it through committees. We have hours of hearings. Literally, there are probably 100 years of effort at least that have gone into this legislation tonight that we were not able to have an up-or-down vote on.

Wildfire Technology Modernization, the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act--those are important to me in Montana. I will tell you what. The people who are closest to the lands ought to have the loudest voice, and I can tell you, the people in Paradise Valley, south of Livingston, MT, don't want to see a large money operation near Chico, MT. It is time to withdraw the rights there and allow that backdoor to Yellowstone National Park to be protected in perpetuity. That was part of this land package tonight.

If you take a look at the Sportsmen's Access to Federal Lands, one of the issues that sets our Nation apart is our public lands. I tell you what, if you go to Europe, you don't see public lands. If you go virtually anywhere else in the world, you don't see public lands. It is a unique American experience that a mom and dad in Montana, a grandma and grandpa, an aunt and uncle can still go down to Walmart and buy an elk tag and jump in the pickup, and within 20 to 30 minutes be in elk country on public lands. That was part of the Sportsmen's Access package.

We had the Open Book on Equal Access to Justice Act. In fact, it is something that Senator Barrasso put in place here to ensure we have transparency in the way these funds are spent.

There is the Migratory Bird Framework and Hunting Opportunities for Veterans Act in here.

My point is there are over 100 bills in here with a lot of careful thought, a lot of consideration moving through committees. All we wanted to do tonight is have an up-or-down vote. We didn't get it.

I am grateful that we had a good bipartisan spirit here tonight, that we were working with leadership in both parties here in the Senate, both parties in the House, including the future leadership in the House. We are going to bring this bill back to the floor of the U.S. Senate in January. We are going to move this through. We are going to move it to the House. We are going to fight to get this thing on the President's desk and signed as one of the early acts of Congress in 2019.

It didn't end well tonight with this package, but we are going to start strong in January. We are not giving up the fight.

I want to thank the staff and the committee leadership on both sides for helping us get to this point tonight.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We will be back in January, fighting.

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