Floor Statements

Mr. President, the Senate will not be in session tomorrow to allow Senators to attend Senator Lautenberg's funeral. I would just mention, I just spoke to the Sergeant at Arms Office and the Secretary's Office. They are very impressed with the effusive outpouring of respect for Senator Lautenberg. We have four airplanes going up there. It is so wonderful. I am so impressed.

On Thursday, at 10 a.m., there will be three rollcall votes: one on the farm bill, two on the motions to proceed to student loans.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the

Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the provisions of S. Res. 161 as a further mark of respect to the memory of the late Senator Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey.

Mr. President, I ask that the Senate observe a moment of silence in honor of the late Frank Lautenberg, a Senator from the State of New Jersey.

Mr. President, there are a few matters I must take care of. We will be in morning business until 4 p.m. Following that, the Senate will resume consideration of S. 954, the farm bill.

At 5:30 p.m. there will be two rollcall votes on amendments to that bill.

Mr. President, I understand there are two bills at the desk due for a second reading.

Mr. President, I object to further proceedings with regard to both of these matters.

Mr. President, when I learned early this morning that Frank Lautenberg had died, of course, I immediately became very sad. I served with him for 2\1/2\ decades or more in the Senate.

I see there are flowers on his desk. It seems the flowers have barely wilted on the desk--which is right behind me--of Senator Inouye. So I have a heavy heart.

As we all know, the senior Senator from New Jersey and my friend Frank Lautenberg died this morning. My thoughts are with his lovely wife Bonnie, his children, and 13 grandchildren.

Few people in the history of this institution contributed as much to this Nation and to the Senate as Frank Lautenberg. His success story is what the American dream is all about.

He came from a family of working-class immigrants from Eastern Europe--Russia and Poland. His parents struggled. I heard Frank talk about how they struggled. They worked so hard. They moved around New Jersey often.

When Frank was 18, during the middle of World War II he enlisted in the U.S. Army. During World War II he served with distinction in the Army Signal Corps. I can remember Frank talking about his experiences in the European theater. While he was in the Army Signal Corps, he said he could

see the war going on in his sight while he was up on a wooden power pole.

He talked about the many experiences he had during World War II, as he said, making him a better American. He was very proud of his military service. He is the last World War II veteran having served in the Senate. We don't have any World War II veterans anymore. His death is a great loss to this institution in many different ways.

When Frank came home from the war--he was obviously very smart--he was permitted to attend the very prestigious Columbia University. He did it, of course, on the GI bill--just as so many of the other returning Americans did.

He quickly founded his own company. He started the company with two boyhood friends. All three kids were from New Jersey. Under his leadership, his firm, Automatic Data Processing, known as ADP, grew into the largest computing company of its kind in the world.

He was so very proud of that company, and he never hesitated to tell everyone that he made money. He became rich. He was a poor boy who became wealthy as a result of being able to fulfill his dreams, as people can do, in America.

Frank wasn't content with his personal success alone. He was proud of the civic and charitable things he did, but nothing made him more proud of what he did outside government than when he served as the top lay leader of the United Jewish Appeal, known as the Jewish Federations of North America. He was very proud of that.

Frank Lautenberg was known for many things before he came to the Senate. He ran an impossible race for the Senate and was elected. He came to the Congress in 1982, the same year I did. Over the course of three decades he worked tirelessly on behalf of his State and the country.

He retired once. He could not stand retirement. He hated retirement. He could not stay away from public service, and he returned to the Senate in 2002.

He had a remarkable career. I just touched upon a few of his accomplishments. He had determination that made him successful in the private sector and also served him well in the Senate. Motivated by his own experience, Senator Lautenberg, a World War II veteran, cowrote the 21st century GI bill of rights. Recognizing how much this meant to him, he wanted to ensure that the vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan enjoyed the same opportunities for education that helped him become so successful.

My youngest boy just hated cigarette smoke, and it really made him ill. There was a time when people could smoke everyplace in the airplane and then finally in a different part of the airplane; however, it didn't matter. Everybody sucked in the secondhand smoke.

Frank Lautenberg took care of my boy and millions of other people who would no longer have to suck in that smoke in an airplane. He is the one, more than anyone else, whom we have to thank for protecting us from deadly secondhand smoke in an airplane because his legislation banned smoking on airplanes.

He was also a long-time member of the Environment and Public Works Committee. Had he not retired in that very short period of time that he did, he would have been chairman of that committee. However, because he wasn't there, I had the opportunity to be chair of that committee on two separate occasions.

He focused on this Nation's infrastructure, such as roads and highways. One of the ideas he thought would make this country a much safer place was to pass a drinking limit so a person could not drink alcohol anyplace in the country until they were 21 years of age. It was called a national drunk driving standard.

He believed in helping the State of New Jersey as well as helping the country, but I am not sure in which order. It was hard to understand the difference because he was focused on the country and New Jersey at the same time.

Frank wanted to make sure that women and children were protected from gun violence. Thanks to him, we passed legislation that convicted domestic abusers so they could not own firearms.

Those are just a few examples of his work in the Senate that literally saved lives. He came from his sick bed--in a wheelchair--to vote on gun legislation. He agreed with 90 percent of the American people--that people who had severe mental problems or were felons should not be able to buy guns. He agreed with 90 percent of the American people.

He came from his bed to be here and vote with us. He was so happy to be here. After that, he came once--just a few days ago--to vote when we needed him again. He tried so hard.

When I talked to Bonnie today, she said he was confident he would live to be 100. He was a very strong man physically.

A couple years ago, I took a big delegation to China. It was a bipartisan group. It was a wonderful trip. For Frank Lautenberg, that was his last foreign travel. I can remember indicating what a strong man he was physically. I had never been to the Great Wall of China. I don't know how many of the other 10 Senators had been there, but I had not. It is pretty steep, and there are big rocks that have been there for centuries and centuries. Because Frank was 88 years old at the time, somebody grabbed his arm to help him go up. He pushed them away. He wanted no help from anybody. He was on his own, and that is the way he wanted to be.

I and our Nation owe a great debt of gratitude to Frank for his outstanding service. He had always been so kind to me. He was someone who appreciated serving. He appreciated being here. He loved being in the Senate, and the Nation is going to miss his strength and his progressive leadership.

The other attribute that probably a lot of people didn't know about Frank Lautenberg was his sense of humor. I always had him tell stories because no one could tell a story like him. Another reason I liked Frank is he laughed at his own jokes. He thought they were funny, as did most everyone who listened to them.

One of our favorite jokes was about two wrestlers. It would take 5 minutes or more to tell the story, but it was hilarious. No one could tell it like Frank. He had a sense of humor, and we certainly appreciated that. Even though the Senate has Al Franken, there was room for two funny people prior to Frank's death this morning. Frank Lautenberg--and Al Franken--always made us smile and often made us laugh. Now I guess it is going to be up to Senator Franken to do this alone, because they were both funny, together and apart.

It is with deep sadness that his Senate family is going to say goodbye. We are going to do that Wednesday morning. We will say goodbye to an exemplary public servant and a faithful friend, Senator Frank Lautenberg.

I note the absence of a quorum.

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, in a few minutes Senators will cast votes on two amendments to the farm bill that is now pending before this body. Before we do, I wish to take a minute to acknowledge that the senior Senator from Montana, Max Baucus, has cast more than 12,000 votes over the past three decades in this institution, the Senate. This is a remarkable accomplishment, and it speaks to his dedication to the Senate and to the people of Montana.

He is a hard-working Senator. He learned the value of hard work on a ranch outside of Helena, the capital, in the State of Montana. From the time he was a boy, he was noted as being extremely smart. That is why he was able to obtain both his bachelor's degree and his law degree from one of the most prestigious universities in the world, Stanford University.

I have worked with him the many years I have been here in the Senate. I worked with him when he was chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee during a massive highway bill. He has been a member of the Agriculture Committee for many years.

His mark in this body, though, has been as a member of the Finance Committee. He has done many things. He was involved over the course of the 1982 bill that reformed the Tax Code significantly, called Bradley- Gephardt. Max Baucus was in there working on what he thought was important to Montana and the country.

He became chairman of this very important committee, and he has been instrumental in developing many massive pieces of legislation but nothing more significant than the months and months and months he spent managing the health reform bill, the ObamaCare bill. He has long been an advocate for children's health. He was an advocate for the Children's Health Insurance Program and has fought to strengthen Medicare for seniors all over America and, of course, in his State of Montana.

As I mentioned, he served on the Agriculture Committee, the Environment and Public Works Committee, and the Joint Committee on Taxation. His legislative record is open for everyone to see. It is massive, it is important, and he has done a remarkably good job.

The one thing Senator Baucus and I have spent a lot of time talking about is running--not running for office but running with your feet. He is an avid runner. I used to feel and always felt pretty cocky that I have run quite a few marathons, but they pale in comparison to the running Max Baucus has done. No. 1, he is faster than I am, and, No. 2, he can run longer than I can. He has completed a 50-mile race in less than 12 hours. That is remarkable, and he did that less than 10 years ago. This is just one way Max has gone the distance. Anyone willing to spend half a day running must love the outdoors. I am speaking about half a day. That is 12 hours. This is especially true for Max, who enjoys hunting and fishing and has been an important advocate for public lands in Montana and the Nation. He was the author of one the largest conservation bills I know of in American history, except for perhaps some Alaska lands bills, which preserved more than 310,000 acres of forest land in northwestern Montana.

I congratulate Senator Baucus on reaching this impressive milestone of 12,000 votes and recognize the contributions he has made to this country are significant.

Mr. President, I am going to have a few things to say, as will Senator McConnell, but now I will yield to my friend from Delaware, the junior Senator from Delaware.

I ask unanimous consent that when Senator McConnell and I finish our remarks, he be recognized to speak for 7 minutes.

With the Republican leader's consent, I ask now that the senior Senator from Delaware be allowed to say a few words regarding our guest Chaplain.

Following leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period morning business until 10:30 a.m. The time until then will be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees.

Mr. President, if Republicans want to use extra time because of my two Democrats here, there will be no problem with that. The Chair will know how much time was taken by Senator Coons and Senator Carper.

At 10:30 there will be two rollcall votes--first a cloture vote on the Srinivasan nomination for the D.C. Circuit and a second vote on the Sanders amendment to the farm bill.

The managers will continue to work through amendments to the farm bill today. Senators will be notified when additional votes are scheduled. I would note we are going to see if we can get a finite list of amendments today on the farm bill. Senators Stabenow and Cochran are working on that. It would be nice if we can do that.

Also, we hope we can work something out so we can finish our work today. If we do not, we will have to be here tomorrow in the afternoon to finish this circuit court business.

Mr. President, as a boy, as I grew up, what I wanted to be was a baseball player. It didn't take long until I learned I was not big enough, fast enough, or good enough to be the baseball player of my dreams, but that has not taken away my love of the game. I have followed it so closely for many years. I follow it really, really closely.

I was a cheerleader for any team Greg Maddux was on. He came from Valley High School, from Las Vegas. Almost immediately he was a star baseball player in the Major Leagues. Whatever team he was on was the team I cheered for.

I have been here in Washington now for a number of years. They have had in recent years a professional baseball team. I am reminded that when I was going to law school, working in this building, I went to Griffith Stadium and watched baseball games. I only watched two, but I watched the Washington Senators play the New York Yankees twice--Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, all that crowd. I remember that.

In recent years--in fact, the last 2 years--I have focused on the Nationals a lot because of another phenomenon from Las Vegas by the name of Bryce Harper. He has meant so much to that team, as we learned last night. He is recovering from running into the wall at full speed, hurting himself. But last night he was the reason they won--hit a home run and a double in the 10th inning and made a sensational catch. He is really very good.

The reason I mention that is that Davey Johnson is the manager of the Washington Nationals. He has managed five different Major League Baseball teams. He is one of the greatest managers in the history of baseball. He won pennants, won national championships. But what would the Washington Nationals be like today if he did not have the ability to have the players he wanted? Someone would say: OK, you can have your third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, but you are going to have to wait--not at the beginning of the season, you are going to have to wait until August. We are willing to have him come in August. Or their first baseman, Adam LaRoche--he is a good first baseman, Golden Glove. But you can't have him for a while. Wait for a few months and then bring him on.

That is an example of what is going on in the Senate. The President of the United States does not have the team he wants, the team he deserves.

Yesterday my friend--and he is my friend--the minority leader offered a full-throated defense of the dysfunctional status quo here on Capitol Hill. Here is what he said: ``I think we have demonstrated there is no real problem here,'' talking about the Senate. This he said yesterday on this floor.

Congress has an approval rating I don't even like to talk about. It is very low. Senator McConnell stood on the Senate floor and said things here in Congress are going just fine. I think it is safe to say Americans disagree, and I am on their side. Senator McConnell is free to defend this Republican-created logjam that exists in the Senate today, but I will not join him in this defense. The problem of gridlock in Washington is real, and it must be fixed. I am committed to making the Senate work again.

These remarks I am giving today are only in an effort to get this body to work well. There is nothing sinister in what I am saying. I just want the Senate to work well. I have been here a long time, and it did not work this way before.

Despite the agreement we reached in January of this year, Republican obstruction on nominees continues unabated--no different than it was the last Congress.

The minority leader used strong words yesterday accusing me of going back on my word. I take that accusation very seriously. It is true that in January Democrats and Republicans entered into an agreement. Republicans agreed to cease the endless obstruction of Presidential nominees. They agreed they would work with us ``to schedule votes on nominees in a timely manner except in extraordinary circumstances.'' This is what he said, what the minority leader said. I just quoted that. He said it this year. I repeat, ``Republicans agreed they would no longer block the President's nominees without extraordinary circumstances.''

Look at the dictionary about ``extraordinary circumstances.'' Here is how it is defined: ``going beyond what is usual, regular, or customary.'' That is not some definition I came up with, that is the definition in the dictionary. ``Extraordinary'' is defined as ``going beyond what is usual, regular, or customary.''

In return for their saying that is what they would do, we agreed that we would not consider any changes to the Senate rules outside of regular order. Democrats have kept our word. We intend to keep our word. We have not altered the rules. But since we entered into that agreement, Republicans have failed to hold up their end of the bargain. What they have done these past 5 months has not been usual, regular, or customary as defined in the dictionary. Not only have they failed to work with us to schedule votes on nominees in a timely manner, they are doing everything in their power to deny the President his team and thus undermine Obama's Presidency.

Instead of throwing about accusations, let's look at the facts. Let's stick with the facts. Republican obstruction has slowed down nearly every nominee President Obama has submitted. Even Cabinet Secretaries have faced unparalleled procedural hurdles, and Republicans are threatening to block many more of them. For example, in the some 230- plus years we have been a country, for the first time in the history of this country, while a war is going on and one is winding down, for the first time in the history of this country, Senate Republicans filibustered the nomination of Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel--who, by the way, is a Republican and, by the way, is a Vietnam hero for his combat activities there and was a Republican Senator from Nebraska.

The minority leader himself is threatening to block President Obama's nominee for Secretary of Labor, and he said so. The Secretary of Labor is a good person. He put himself through school working as a garbage man. His parents are immigrants.

What we have done here for generations of the Senate is we have had hearings on these nominees. That is the way it should be.

In recent years, after the hearings have taken place, a Senator will say: I have a few more questions. We will send them. Usually there would be two or three or four or five questions. Secretary Geithner, who recently resigned as Secretary of the Treasury, got 28 questions.

No, I am going to finish my statement.

What happens in these committees is they ask all the questions they want, but 28 questions is not enough for them. For example, on Gina McCarthy--the President asked her to be the Director of the EPA--more than 1,100 questions were submitted to her after the hearing.

Jack Lew--who has basically had many jobs in government--had a full hearing. They gave him more than 700 questions to answer. This has gotten way out of hand. Anything they can do to slow things down, that is what they do.

Executive and judicial nominees who are ready to be confirmed by the Senate have been pending an average of 200 days--more than 6 months. Let me repeat that: Executive and judicial nominees who are ready to be confirmed by the Senate have been pending an average of 200 days. That is more than 6 months. The confirmation process has moved at a glacial pace because of extraordinary Republican obstruction.

Cloture has been filed on 58 of President Obama's nominees--58. By this point in President Bush's term, cloture had been filed on a handful of nominees. Republicans are not blocking these nominations because they object to the qualifications of the nominees.

This body passed something called Dodd-Frank. It was an answer to what was going on on Wall Street--the collapse of Wall Street. Richard Cordray, the nominee to lead the Consumer Finance Bureau--which is part of that bill that is now law--is a perfect example. He was nominated by the President of the United States almost 2 years ago--23 months ago. Republicans are not concerned about his ability to do the job. They are afraid, I guess, he would do his job too well. He is extremely well- qualified. If anything, they are concerned he might, as I said, actually do the job, protecting consumers from the kind of corporate greed that collapsed the financial markets in the first place. If he received an up-or-down vote here today, he would be approved in a minisecond, however long it takes to call the roll.

I have a couple of other examples. Yesterday we talked about the D.C. Circuit. By statute, the D.C. Circuit--some say the most important court in America, more important than the Supreme Court--has 11 spots. Justice Roberts went to the Supreme Court in 2005. His spot has not yet been filled. We have tried, but there have been two filibusters stopping that. There are four vacancies there.

President Obama is the first President in more than 50 years who has not had an appointment confirmed in the D.C. Circuit, but it is not because we have not tried. For example, we tried to get Caitlyn Halligan for 4 years, but her nomination has been filibustered twice. The seat she was nominated for--I repeat--was the seat vacated by Justice Roberts in 2005. Today it is 2013. Do the math.

Now Republicans have forced cloture on this nomination even though Sri Srinivasan was nominated for the D.C. Circuit a year ago. Even though it was reported out of the committee unanimously, they have decided to stall and not have a vote on it.

The nominee has wide bipartisan support, it appears, from both sides of the aisle. If it was reported out of the committee unanimously, I would assume that is the case. Neither stellar qualifications nor bipartisan support are enough to prevent Republican obstruction.

According to a report released this month by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, first-term judicial nominees who were reported out of committee unanimously have waited nine times longer to be confirmed than under President Bush. President Obama's first-term district court nominees have waited five times longer than those previously. The first-term circuit court nominees have waited more than seven times longer.

Yesterday the Republican leader raised the example of a Wyoming judge as proof they are willing to support some of our nominees. Wyoming--as I indicated yesterday, there may be a more Republican State in the Union, but I don't know where it is. I said, well, let's schedule a vote yesterday--Wednesday. The Republican leader said no.

It doesn't take a mathematician to figure why we have a judicial vacancy crisis in this country. We can talk about how we cleared most of the calendar. I take the Senate's charge to advise and consent very seriously, but Republicans have corrupted the Founders' intent by blocking qualified nominees for the slightest reason, if no reason.

President Obama deserves to choose his team, just as Davey Johnson deserves to choose his team. I believe any President deserves his or her team.

The Republicans have again and again delayed or obstructed the President's nominees. This Republican obstruction has created an unreasonable and unworkable standard where minor issues are raised as excuses to block major nominees or require a 60-vote supermajority for confirmation.

Before the Republican leader accuses me of going back on my word, he should take a long look in the mirror, and he should spend some time in honest reflection of Republican contributions to the gridlock threatening this storied institution before he claims ``there is no real problem here.''

Mr. President, reserving the right to object.

Mr. President, I am not going to have a long conversation this morning with my friend the Republican leader, other than to say this: My speech speaks for itself. I wrote it; no one else wrote it. It is my speech, and I want everyone to look at that. I want Republicans and Democrats to look at it.

I also want the record to be clear: This man, on whom we are going to vote this afternoon at 1 p.m. or 2 p.m.--whatever time the consent agreement suggests--has been waiting 1 year. So the Republican leader can talk about how quickly it came, but this man has been waiting for a year. I went through the statistics, and I will not go over them again. I hope things work out in this Senate so we don't have to go through anymore procedural battles, but things are not working well. I went through the statistics, and they are in my speech.

I don't object.

Mr. President, prior to coming to Congress, I was a trial lawyer. I tried more than 100 cases to a jury. The jury decided what was right or wrong in the particular conflict, and I have the American people on my side with this conflict. They don't like what is going on in the Senate, and I have an obligation to protect the Senate. I know that, and my friend reminds me of that, and I think of it very often. I think of it every day and when I have my weekly caucus with my 54 Democratic Senators. I represent them to represent the people they represent. I represent, because the people they represent are Republicans, Democrats and Independents, and I understand that.

So I am willing to take this case to the American people. I hope we can resolve any problems we have, but it is not right what is going on. I submit my case to the American people. I submit my case to the American people.

I don't know what he is talking about. I had a very early meeting this morning. I haven't read the newspaper. Maybe there is something in there I will have to deny. I don't know anything about the 51 votes. I look for 51 votes all the time on many different issues.

As I said, I don't want to have any animosity between me and my friend. He is a lawyer. I am a lawyer. He represents Kentucky. I represent Nevada. We both represent our respective caucuses and we both have an obligation to make this place work better.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

I have spoken to the managers of the bill, and they have one vote scheduled right now. They expect--they hope--they can have a couple more today, maybe even three today, but they are not sure. It will have to be done by consent. They are confident they can get that done. We will have to wait and see.

When this vote is over, we should have in the near future an idea of what we are going to finish today. If we are here and we have a few more votes, it should not be past 5:00. We will see. We are going to finish today sometime--hopefully soon.

A decision is being made as to what we are going to do when we get back. The managers of this bill are trying to come up with a finite list of amendments. They hope to be able to do that today.

Then we will make a decision on whether we are going to move to immigration when we get back or wait a week. I have spoken to the Gang of 8 today, and they are going to give me some indication of what they want to do. I have also spoken to the chairman of the committee, and that decision should be made very soon. We will have a vote on the Monday we get back.

Amendment No. 923

Mr. President, today I rise to introduce the Gold Butte National Conservation Area Act of 2013. This legislation will designate the Gold Butte National Conservation Area in Southern Nevada and designate wilderness within Gold Butte.

I am proud to introduce this important bill, which has been in the making for at least a decade. The establishment of the Gold Butte National Conservation Area has been supported by Clark County, the City of Mesquite, Friends of Gold Butte, the Moapa Band of Paiutes, the Nevada Resort Association, and thousands of Nevadans.

By establishing the Gold Butte National Conservation Area as a unit of the National Landscape Conservation System, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, we will conserve, protect and enhance this unique part of Southern Nevada's landscape.

The proposed National Conservation Area is located in Clark County, south of the City of Mesquite and surrounded on three sides by the Lake Mead National Recreation Area and the Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument in Arizona. Gold Butte, deemed by locals as ``Nevada's piece of the Grand

Canyon'', is recognized for its amazing sandstone formations, critical habitat for desert tortoise, mining heritage and the ancient Native American rock art that is so prevalent throughout the area. The land is home to a number of rare plants and animals such as desert tortoise, desert bighorn sheep, golden eagles, and bear poppies. The legislation will also protect current uses which include camping, hunting, hiking and riding off-highway vehicles on previously designated routes.

Gold Butte is named for the mining town of the same name comprised of approximately 1,000 miners in the early 1900s. Long since abandoned, Gold Butte shows the remnants of an early pioneer history of ranching and mining. Even before the early settlers, however, Native Americans depended on this area. The evidence of ancient people can be found nearly everywhere in Gold Butte--petroglyphs, agave roasting pits, hunting blinds, rock shelters, stone tools, pottery shards and charcoal are found across the landscape.

For decades, the Gold Butte area has been a special place for those in the surrounding community. Over 10 years ago people started noticing the impacts of increased unmanaged visitation such as litter, fires, waste and degradation of cultural and natural resources. Unfortunately, these human impacts were becoming a common occurrence in Gold Butte. It was then that a group of conservationists, sportsmen, archaeologists, tribal members, ranchers and community members formed Friends of Gold Butte and started advocating for a higher level of protection for the area. Since 2000, Friends of Gold Butte has worked to create and shape a proposal for protection of these important resources.

The National Conservation Area will also benefit the local economy by bringing tourists and outdoor enthusiasts to explore the natural beauty of this desert landscape. Nevada already benefits from $14.9 billion annually in consumer spending directly related to the outdoor recreation industry, which directly supports 148,000 jobs. Designation of the Gold Butte National Conservation Area will draw more people to the area and bring in vital tourist dollars to the City of Mesquite and to Clark County.

The legislation also designates wilderness areas within the Gold Butte National Conservation Area. These wilderness areas provide key habitat for a number of critical species, protects the cultural resources and the many primitive places in Gold Butte.

The Gold Butte National Conservation Area Act is an ambitious piece of legislation, built on years of hard work by local advocates and stakeholder input. It protects vital natural and cultural resources and preserves an important area of recreation for future generations.

I understand that more work will need to be done on this bill and I anticipate feedback by stakeholders to improve the legislation.

I look forward to working with my colleagues to move this important legislation through the legislative process.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.