Providing For Consideration Of H.R. 2643, Department Of The Interior, Environment, And Related Agencies APpropriations Act, 2008

Floor Speech

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2643, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (House of Representatives - June 26, 2007)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. WELCH of Vermont. I thank the gentleman from Florida and for his ringing endorsement of public spending for public projects.

Two things: first, Democrats readopted in this Congress the principle of pay-as-you-go, acknowledging that we have to pay our bills, and that good intentions are not enough to balance the budget. We will do that as we did before. But in this bill we are proposing to spend 7.5 percent more than the President asked for. And the reason? That spending is necessary and required if we're going to protect the rivers, the waterways, the air and the land of this great country.

Second, the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt is alive and well in this bipartisan bill by Mr. Dicks and by Mr. Tiahrt. We are getting back into protecting the America that we are responsible to hand down to the future. This bill, a bipartisan bill, appropriates $266 million for climate change research across all Federal agencies. This bill creates a commission on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation that will review scientific questions that need to be addressed to adapt to global warming and to recommend action. This investment in furthering our understanding of the impacts of climate change is a down payment on our future. If there has been a debate about whether global warming exists, this bill puts an exclamation point that the bipartisan conclusion of Congress is that global warming is real, is urgent, and requires immediate attention.

The spirit of Teddy Roosevelt is also alive and well in this bill in the Forest Legacy Program. And thank you, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Ranking Member. The Forest Legacy Program brings communities together, protecting their forests. In my own State, two very small towns of Fairlee and West Fairlee have been working hard contributing their own money to protect their Brushwood Forest. The increase in the Forest Legacy Program, something that's been overdue, is going to give them a fighting chance to be able to do that.

The spirit of Teddy Roosevelt is alive and well in the bill's commitment to water quality. The Clean Water State Revolving Fund provides all of our States resources for local sewage treatment projects, one of the most important investments in the country towards public health.

The spirit of Teddy Roosevelt is alive and well in the self-help efforts in this bill in the small amount of money, $16 million, that provides for rural water technical assistance. This helps small communities across the State of Vermont and across the country get the technical assistance that they need in order to do locally what is required for the benefit of their own citizens.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlemen on both sides of the aisle for their leadership in this overdue legislation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source