Joshua Tree National Park Expansion Act of 2024

Madam President, I rise to introduce Mojave National Preserve Boundary Adjustment Act.

The Mojave National Preserve Boundary Adjustment Act is a commonsense bill that would expand the Mojave National Preserve to include the land within the Castle Mountains National Monument.

The Mojave National Preserve, located in Southern California in the Mojave Desert, was established by the 1994 California Desert Protection Act, which was one of the late Senator Feinstein's signature achievements. Today, the Mojave National Preserve is one of the largest national preserves within the continental United States and plays an important role in safeguarding a diverse group of ecological habitats, mountains, and canyons in the region.

The adjacent Castle Mountains National Monument is surrounded on three sides by the Mojave National Preserve and is also home to important historic resources along with resident populations of and migratory corridors for desert bighorn sheep, quail, chukar, rabbit, mule deer, and other big game. Expanding the Mojave National Preserve to encompass Castle Mountains will simplify management of this vast desert landscape.

I am proud to work with a broad range of stakeholders to introduce this commonsense legislation to expand the Mojave National Preserve. Doing so would allow the National Park Service to further the conservation values and permanent protections in the Mojave Desert while boosting public access and outdoor recreation to the area.

I look forward to working with our colleagues to pass the Mojave National Preserve Boundary Adjustment Act as quickly as possible.

Madam President, I rise to introduce legislation to expand the Joshua Tree National Park by approximately 17,842 acres of public lands.

In 2016, the National Park Service, in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, prepared the Eagle Mountain Boundary Study for an area Mountains, located in Riverside County, CA. The purpose of the study and environmental assessment was to consider whether to expand Joshua Tree National Park to include additional lands and to develop alternatives for protecting cultural, natural, and scenic resources related to the purpose of the national park.

NPS' selected alternative recommends expanding the National Park by the more than 17,000 acres of federally managed lands covered by my legislation. Notably, these lands are adjacent to the national park. NPS found

that doing so could allow for greater protection of existing habitat, restoration opportunities, and landscape connectivity for wildlife such as bighorn sheep, as well as new visitor opportunities.

I urge my colleagues to swiftly pass this straightforward boundary adjustment as soon as possible.

Madam President, I rise to introduce legislation to rename the visitor center at Joshua Tree National Park in honor of Senator Dianne Feinstein.

This legislation would redesignate the Cottonwood Visitor Center at Joshua Tree National Park to the ``Senator Dianne Feinstein Visitor Center.''

Dianne Feinstein was a towering figure not just in modern California politics but in the history of our State and our Nation. Her contributions to our Nation, particularly in environmental conservation, are a reminder of the public power of public service. For Californians, so much of our lands have been preserved thanks to her singular drive and leadership, from the redwoods of the Headwaters and the San Francisco Bay, to Lake Tahoe and, most notably, the California desert.

Senator Feinstein was known as a great protector of the California desert, and some have lovingly referred to her as the ``Queen of the Desert''. Senator Feinstein was the driving force behind the establishment of Joshua Tree National Park, Death Valley National Park, the Mojave National Preserve, the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, the Mojave Trails National Monument, the Sand to Snow National Monument, and the Castle Mountains National Monument. In all, it is estimated that Senator Feinstein protected over 3 million acres of the California desert.

In 2019, on the 25th anniversary of the passage of Senator Feinstein's landmark California Desert Protection Act, Senator Feinstein wrote: ``When I think of the California desert, I think of magnificent landscapes and mountain vistas. I think of beautiful species like bighorn sheep, mule deer and desert tortoises. I think of unique vegetation like the beautiful wildflower blooms and iconic Joshua trees. And I think of the long history of local Native American tribes. The California desert is a true American treasure. Our efforts over the past 25 years have resulted in the largest areas of public lands protected in the lower 48 states--that is something truly to celebrate.''

It is only fitting that we celebrate Senator Feinstein's memory by renaming the visitor center at Joshua Tree National Park in her honor. I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact this legislation as soon as possible.

Madam President, over the decades, millions of Americans--most often Americans of color--have had their lives derailed and destroyed by our country's failed war on drugs. The consequences of this harmful campaign linger on to this very day. So I was pleased by yesterday's news that the DEA, under the Biden administration, is preparing to take a truly historic step: rescheduling cannabis from a schedule I substance to a schedule III substance under the Controlled Substances Act.

Reclassifying cannabis is a necessary and long overdue step, but it is not at all the end of the story. It is time for Congress to wake up to the times and do its part by passing the cannabis reform that most Americans have long called for. It is past time for Congress to catch up with public opinion and to catch up with the science.

So, today, I am proud to join with my colleagues Senators Booker and Wyden to reintroduce the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, a comprehensive and necessary update to the Federal Government's approach to cannabis. I am proud to be the first majority leader ever to call for an end to the marijuana prohibition because I have seen both the consequences of outdated drug laws and the benefits of commonsense cannabis regulation at the State level, and it is time for Congress to follow suit.

Support for cannabis reform is growing in the Senate. Our bill now has 18 sponsors, the most ever for this bill. We will keep working to build more support because when liberals and conservatives and activists and entrepreneurs and veterans groups can all come together on one issue, that is a clear sign the momentum is real.

I am very proud of the bill we are releasing today. Our legislation will finally remove marijuana from the Federal list of controlled substances. It will expunge the criminal records of so many Americans with low-level marijuana offenses that haunt them--inhibit them--for decades. And it will help our country close the book, once and for all, on the awful and harmful and failed War on Drugs, which all too often has been nothing more than a war on Americans of color.

In short, our bill is about individual freedom and basic fairness. We cannot tolerate any longer the tragedy of the young person getting arrested because they have a small amount of marijuana in their pocket.

For years, that is all it took--getting caught with a little bit of marijuana--for you to get saddled with a serious criminal record that prevented you from getting a good job, buying a home, getting ahead in life. And, of course, this injustice happens predominantly in Black and Latino communities. That is unfair. It is un-American. And our bill will right this grave wrong.

In place of the War on Drugs, our bill would lay the foundation for something very different: a just and responsible and commonsense approach to cannabis regulation. It would call for new guidelines on how marijuana products are labeled, require new standards to prevent impaired driving, require HHS and NIH to support research into cannabis's health aspects, and more. Our bill, if passed, would close the door on outdated and very harmful modes of thinking at the Federal level, while allowing for reform and sensible regulation to take root.

So, again, I want to thank Senators Booker and Wyden for being terrific partners in putting this bill together. It has been a longstanding effort, one that has required a lot of feedback from the public and a lot of perseverance.

As Senate majority leader, I will continue to push for every chance we get to bring cannabis policy into the 21st century, and passing our bill would be an excellent way to make that happen.

Madam President, I rise to introduce legislation to expand the Joshua Tree National Park by approximately 17,842 acres of public lands.

In 2016, the National Park Service, in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, prepared the Eagle Mountain Boundary Study for an area Mountains, located in Riverside County, CA. The purpose of the study and environmental assessment was to consider whether to expand Joshua Tree National Park to include additional lands and to develop alternatives for protecting cultural, natural, and scenic resources related to the purpose of the national park.

NPS' selected alternative recommends expanding the National Park by the more than 17,000 acres of federally managed lands covered by my legislation. Notably, these lands are adjacent to the national park. NPS found

that doing so could allow for greater protection of existing habitat, restoration opportunities, and landscape connectivity for wildlife such as bighorn sheep, as well as new visitor opportunities.

I urge my colleagues to swiftly pass this straightforward boundary adjustment as soon as possible.