Speeches
January 5, 2017
Speeches
I support the REINS act, but want to underscore the point raised by Mr. Barr. The REINS Act says that any regulation – that is, an act with the force of law – that’s adopted by the executive branch and costs more than $100 million, must then be approved by Congress in order to take effect. As necessary as this bill is in the current environment, I’m afraid we have it backwards. Under the Constitution just read on this floor again today, it is not the role of the executive branch to make laws and for the legislative branch to approve or veto them.
Issues:
January 4, 2017
Speeches
House Joint Resolution 3 by Congressman Roe of Tennessee authorizes the National Desert Storm War Memorial Association to consider sites, along or near the National Mall, for a memorial to honor the members of the Armed Forces who served on active duty in support of Operation Desert Storm or Operation Desert Shield.
Issues:
December 7, 2016
Speeches
WRDA Conference Report: Water for California; Fire Protection for Tahoe. The conference report on the Water Resources Development Act is the product of many, many hours of good-faith negotiations between the House and Senate and between Republicans and Democrats.
December 6, 2016
Speeches
This year marked the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service and of the uniquely American notion that our most beautiful and historic lands should be set aside for the use, resort and recreation of the American people as set forth in the original Yosemite Grant Act. Or, in the words of the Organic Act of 1916 that established the National Parks, “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same.”
Issues:
December 1, 2016
Speeches
President-elect Trump has many difficult fiscal tasks ahead – one of which is to promote long-overdue infrastructure construction at a time when the national debt exceeds our entire economy and interest costs alone are eating us alive. Some have said that a rebounding economy resulting from tax reform will pay for it. That may be, but it’s not guaranteed; it cannot be accurately forecast; and we’ll need any new revenues to beef up our defenses and reduce our deficit – two other critical objectives of the new administration.
November 16, 2016
Speeches
The American people have given our 45th President and the 115th Congress a clear mandate to revive our economy, secure our borders, restore our nation’s sovereignty, reinstate our Bill of Rights, and uphold the Rule of Law. Moreover, they have given us majorities in both houses of Congress to do so. There is no excuse for failure. President Obama and Secretary Clinton set a positive tone for the peaceful transition of power...
October 11, 2016
Speeches
The oath taken by every FBI Agent is not to fight crime, uphold the laws, stop terrorists, or protect the country or its government. Certainly they do all these things, but the ONLY oath an FBI agent takes is to “Support and Defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Issues:
September 14, 2016
Speeches
This subcommittee measures bills according to three over-arching objectives for federal lands management: to restore public access to the public lands, to restore sound management practices to the public lands and to restore the federal government as a good neighbor to the communities directly impacted by the public lands. Of all the bills we have seen during this Congress, I believe no one has tried harder to adhere to these principles than Chairman Bishop in the bill before us today, the Public Lands Initiative (PLI).
Issues:
September 8, 2016
Speeches
When we talk of PILT funding, we should never lose sight of the fact that it is a very, very poor substitute for revenues generated locally by healthy economic activity. Our ultimate objective should be not to institutionalize PILT funding, but to restore a healthy balance between federal land ownership and productive private ownership of the lands within each county in the nation.
September 7, 2016
Speeches
I want to thank Congressman Gohmert for organizing this discussion of federal lands policy, and to highlight the Federal Footprint Map at Naturalresources.house.gov/federalfootprint. Or just google Federal Footprint. When you do, you’ll have a complete picture of how much land the federal government owns and how much of your state and your community is affected. And it may surprise you.