For Immediate Release

October 3, 2000

CONSERVATION PROGRAM PASSES WITH INTERIOR BILL;
CONFERENCE REPORT HEADED FOR SENATE APPROVAL

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House approved the final version of the Interior Appropriations bill today, containing landmark conservation legislation creating a six-year trust fund to benefit the national parks, public lands, historic sites, wildlife and coastal resources, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks said Tuesday.

Rep. Dicks had added the broad conservation initiative to the Interior funding legislation in September when a House-Senate conference committee met to determine the final form of the Interior bill. With support from the White House and environmental advocates in Congress, the committee agreed to the unusual provision that provided a six-year assurance of spending within defined categories of environmental activity among federal agencies.

With the new initiative in the bill, and with the removal of provisions that the Clinton Administration found objectionable, Rep. Dicks argued strongly for support of the bill this afternoon in the House. "This is a moment in time that doesn’t come very often. We have before us an opportunity to take the biggest step forward in decades – perhaps in a generation – to benefit the environment, and I urge my colleagues to pass this conference report," he stated.

The result was the passage of the bill by a resounding vote of 348-to-69 among the full membership of the House.

"I am delighted and encouraged by the overwhelming vote, and I hope and expect that the Senate will act promptly to pass this conference report," Dicks said, noting that passage in the Senate could occur as early as later today.

"This is a monumental accomplishment, boosting funding for numerous important environmental programs in our country," he added.

Home >> Newsroom >> Press Releases