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The committee will come to order. The chair notes the presence of a quorum. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare recess subject to the call of the chair pursuant to Clause 2 of House Rule 11. And without objection, the chair announces that he may postpone further proceedings today on the question of approving any measure or matter or adopting an amendment on which a recorded vote or the ayes and nays are ordered. I now recognize myself for an opening statement. Good afternoon and welcome to the first official meeting of the Natural Resources Committee for the 119th Congress. In the House chamber above the speaker's rostrum is a quote by the 19th century American statesman Daniel Webster that says, let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, and promote all its great interest to see whether or not we also in our day and generation might do something worthy to be remembered, and I think that's exactly the task we as the Natural Resources Committee have before us during this Congress. If we wisely steward our nation's lands, waters, wildlife, minerals, and numerous other natural resources, they will be the source of our nation's prosperity today and for future generations. The devastating effects of the Palisades Fire, the Eaton Fire, and countless other wildfires and natural disasters that came before them make painfully clear that for far too long our natural resources have been mismanaged, degraded, and allowed to become liabilities rather than the assets for our nation that they should be. It is this committee's responsibility to change that course. We must increase access to our public lands and natural resources, managing them well, facilitating economic development for local communities, and expanding recreational opportunities for all Americans. And we did some of that in the last Congress and we did it in a bipartisan manner and I think we can do a lot of these goals in a bipartisan manner this year.
Restrictive land use policies I think neglect and are a substitute for true conservation and we need to harness, not hinder our nation's abundant lands and waters. We must unlock our nation's energy and mineral resources to produce what we need and what the world needs here at home. As the country with the highest labor and environmental standards and the global leader in energy production, there's no reason why the United States should seek out energy resources from adversarial nations. We need to tackle the systemic issues caused by drought and promote resilience in the West. When left undressed, droughts drive food prices sky high, undermine family farmers' livelihoods, and contribute to catastrophic wildfires. Finally, we have a responsibility to work closely with tribal and insular communities to promote economic opportunities, improve public safety, and ensure they have the resources to thrive. I've been on this committee my entire time in Congress and it's an honor to serve as chairman in the 119th Congress. I'd like to congratulate Mr. Huffman on assuming the role of ranking member of this committee. I look forward to working with each and every one of you this Congress. You'll find some of the most talented folks in Congress on this committee, each of whom brings a unique perspective and skill set to the table. Their districts range from urban to rural, east to west, but we all have one thing in common, and that's prioritizing the incredible resources with which America has been blessed. i do not doubt that we'll have more than our fair of spirited debates especially with mr huffman sitting this close to me but i'm hopeful we can work together to advance legislation that in the words of daniel webster is something that's worthy to be remembered but before we can get into the legislative issues we're all excited to tackle we first must organize and take care of committee business i'm looking forward to adopting our committee rules today and getting to work on many important issues our constituents elected us to consider
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and congratulations to you. It is good to be back with you. Congratulations to all the new members on both sides of the aisle. On behalf of the Democratic members of this committee, I'd like to thank the majority for working with us to schedule this organizing meeting and for agreeing to continue on with the usual committee practices and norms that have been part of this committee in the past. As many of you know, this is my first time serving as the top Democrat on this committee. And I want you to know that holding that position has been an aspiration and a dream of mine for a long time, way before I came to Congress. It has been inspired by some remarkable champions for our country's natural resources who have served in this position before me, people from all over the country. but also including some Californians, the great George Miller. And there was another Californian by the name of Phil Burton, a bit of a legend in the San Francisco Bay Area, who was the ranking member and chair of this committee back in the 70s and 80s and actually parlayed that position into coming within one vote of being Speaker of the House. He lost to a guy named Tip O'Neill. And I want you to know that I have no such ambitions or delusions, but I do very much look forward to building on the good work of those who came before us on this committee. Over the past four years of the Biden-Harris administration, we've made historic progress in combating climate change, in lifting up indigenous voices, protecting iconic species, promoting environmental justice, and safeguarding our treasured places for future generations. We've passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which included $370 billion in funding to fight climate change, the country's most meaningful investment in climate action ever. We protected some of the planet's most pristine resources from fossil fuel extraction. We successfully pushed back against Republicans' many attempts to dismantle environmental protections and sell off our natural resources.
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