When we began formulating various versions of this proposal - Chairman Young, Sen. Murkowski and Sen. Landrieu called theirs "The Conservation and Reinvestment Act," Sen. Boxer and I called ours "Resources 2000" - nearly everyone said the bills were too big, too expensive, too far reaching.
When we said we would try to merge the bills, nearly everyone said it was impossible. Don Young and George Miller, together at last? But we did it. They said we'd never get it out of the Resources Committee; we did, by a 3-1 bipartisan vote.
They said we could never build a national coalition of parks and wildlife and trails and soccer enthusiasts; of hunters and hikers and state and local officials; of sports teams and sports manufacturers, of police and firmer city recreation programs. We did, and over 4,000 organizations and individuals and dozens of newspapers and Legislatures and city and county governments and others embraced our bill.
They said we'd never get it scheduled for the House floor; too much ideological opposition, too many budget questions, too many jurisdictional fights between committees. But three weeks ago, 315 Members of the House, a majority of both parties, proved all the doubters wrong.
We delivered to the American people on a promise we made 36 years ago - and then forgot: a permanent, substantial commitment to invest a portion of offshore revenues back into our parks and our coasts, our urban recreation and our wildlife.
And despite the inflamed rhetoric you will hear from a tiny minority of voices, we did it responsibly, without trampling on property rights or states rights. In fact, our legislation takes special care to protect property owners by giving them notice, ensuring they are involved in the process, focusing on alternatives to acquisition, and by putting most of the money - about 80 percent of it - into the hands of state and local of finials, not into the hands of those promoting federal land acquisition.
So now the responsibility is yours. You can listen to the rhetoric of the nay-sayers and the doubters and kill this legislation; you can say "no" to the 80 to 90 percent of people in your state - in practically every state, Frank Luntz' poll tells us - who want to fund parks and recreation and wildlife.
Or you can do what we did in the House: look at what this bill really says, not how it is characterized. Listen to your constituents, not to hysterical voices who mix-state the intent and the letter of the legislation. Put aside the party and ideological and jurisdictional divisions just long enough to do something that will endure longer than any of us.
If Don Young and George Miller can figure out how to work together to pass CARA with 315 votes in the House, I think the U.S. Senate can figure it out, too.
When a number of us were down at the White House a few weeks ago - Sens. Murkowski, Landrieu, Breaux, Bingman and Boxer; Congressmen Young, Tauzin, John, Dingell and I - the President told us, and every one of us agreed, that it would be shameful if we fail to pass this bill after having brought it so far. He's right. And the American people overwhelmingly agree with him.
So let's figure out how to get it done. Our resources - whether the coast of Louisiana, or the wildlife, or the parks, or the soccer teams, or any of the others who will benefit are at risk - we don't have years to delay. We've been waiting for three decades. Let's redeem the promise now.