▶ 0:17:50Chair Lee: The committee will come to order and hold a mark upon 12 bills brought forward by our colleagues. I anchor all the senators on the committee for their attendance. Out of respect for the members,n as we have a reporting quorum present alaska committee to begin voting. The bills we will take up today are 1860, the brian head town land conveyance act. The hershel "woody" williams national medal of honor monument location act.
▶ 0:18:16Chair Lee: The new mexico land grant-mercedes historical or traditional use cooperation and coordination act. S. 1377, theodore roosevelt national park wild horses protection act. S. 1470, continental divide national scenic trail act. S. 1787, dolores river national conservation area and special management area act. S. 2015, national prescribed fire act of s. 2016, chugach 2025.
▶ 0:18:46Chair Lee: Alaska land exchange oil spill recovery act of s. 2033, 25. Cross-boundary wildfire solutions act. S. 2262, american voices in federal lands act s. 2273, the wyoming education trust modernization act.
▶ 0:19:09Chair Lee: And 25 46, which extends the authority of the national emergency medical services memorial foundation to establish a commemorative work. Ok. We do not yet -- I will filibuster for a moment. Today the committee meets to consider a series of targeted, very community driven measures.
▶ 0:19:35Chair Lee: These are narrow, practical, address real needs in real places. I want to spend a moment on one bill on today's agenda, the brian head land conveyance act. Brian had -- head is a mostly sleepy ski town in southern utah.
▶ 0:19:54Chair Lee: His permanent population is mild -- modest, only about 150 residents as of the 2020 census, but while the population may be modest is response abilities are not. During the winter season, brian head sees more than 300,000 visitors who come to ski and recreate, so people end up -- so a town and some hosting people during a relatively short ski season.
▶ 0:20:22Chair Lee: That puts enormous strain on local infrastructure, especially public safety. Right now, the town operates its public works facility under a special use permit. The permit does not allow for expansion. As a result, essential equipment is stored outdoors.
▶ 0:20:42Chair Lee: Snow removal vehicles in a equipment, and these are all assets that the town happens to depend on to keep its residents safe and is visitors coming and safe while they are there. Exposure has accelerated wear and tear and creative safety risks and limited town ability to prepare for winter conditions.
▶ 0:21:07Chair Lee: This bill would fix that and convey a 24 acre parcel adjacent to the town boundary enabling brian head to expand its facility. It is important to be clear about what the land is. It is for service land -- forest service land that the forest service housing knowledge does not have characteristics. Our witness from the forest service stated there are safety concerns facing the town and the forest service supports the bill.
▶ 0:21:38Chair Lee: It is a targeted solution to a well-documented, undisputed problem. They probably forest service agrees exists and a solution the forest service supports. The goal is simple, give the town the ability to safely store its own equipment. Prepare -- protect residents and visitors and support a growing recreation economy on which the region depends. That is with the bill does. I want to step back a moment.
▶ 0:22:17Chair Lee: If the ranking member is good with it, I may interrupt my remarks, push pause, and go ahead and vote while we have a reporting quorum present. Thank you. Our first items of business will be immense to improve seven bills on the agenda that happen worked on with members and staff. I want to thank ranking them or heinrich for his work on this.
▶ 0:23:04Chair Lee: Which ones are those? Let's see. Yeah. This one. Now, cannot do the rollcall yet because we are one short apparently but we can do the voice votes.
▶ 0:23:24Chair Lee: We have an immense distributed for 1363, 2015, 2016, 2033, and 2262. These are moments 2, 11, 12, 7, 4, five, and six. We will vote on these moments to the bills. For all seven amendments as a block. All those in favor, say aye. The ayes appear to have it.
▶ 0:23:58Chair Lee: The mmn are agreed to. All right. Having done that, I will go back and finish my opening statement while we await the arrival of a couple absent members. All right.
▶ 0:24:24Chair Lee: So glad the committee is coming together today. Members on both sides of the aisle working in good faith to advance bills that matter to their communities. That cooperation should not end here appear the bills should move to the floor and be passed and then they should be signed into law. Over the past year, we have had productive hearings and markups and are moving bills out of the committee. Some have passed the senate.
▶ 0:24:56Chair Lee: Unanimously. Just a year ago. And they have stalled not because of substance but because of an objection to -- not because of substance and not because there is substantive objection to what the bills accomplish but rather some are being held hostage to create leverage for other, larger packages. The american people deserve legislation that is understandable and publicly debated on its own merits.
▶ 0:25:28Chair Lee: Committees should not be forced to try to support what they opposed just to get a needed local fix across the finish line and so any time we have these noncontroversial bills it is important to move those through as soon as possible. As chairman, I remain ready to work with any member of the committee individually or in bipartisan bills to the floor so they can be voted on and become law.
▶ 0:25:56Chair Lee: That respects committee work and respects each individual member, respect the senate as an institution and the people we represent. Today's agenda reflex with this committee does best, solving specific problems in specific places with care and liberation and I would like to invite each of you to work with me and my staff to advance the bills and I look forward to getting each of those bills across the finish line. Thank you come heinrich.
▶ 0:26:29Chair Lee: -- thank you, member heinrich.
▶ 0:26:30Sen. Heinrich: I am pleased to see us considering 12 bills today. I hope we can build on this in the future and I want to point out our agenda today includes the continental divide completion act, a bill introduced along with senator daines. The continental divide trail stretches from the mexican border to the canadian border, crossing more than 3000 miles of some of the most rugged terrain in the U.S..
▶ 0:26:55Sen. Heinrich: While senator daines and I disagree on which portions of the trail are more scenic and we agree on getting this across the finish line, the trail is part of the triple crown of hiking and brings visitors from around the world to the north american continent. From the mountain towns along the way, the trail means economic develop and and good jobs and means money in their pockets.
▶ 0:27:25Sen. Heinrich: The continental divide trail is not just for through hikers. For many new mexicans, it is their local trail where they walk their dog or spend time with their families and the problem has been that there are still many gaps in the trail where hikers have to literally hike on roads, even highway shoulders, to connect from one segment to the next.
▶ 0:27:46Sen. Heinrich: The continental divide completion act would direct land management agencies to work with trail users and local communities to fill in gaps and complete this trail. I want to thank senator daines for partnering with me on this legislation and while there are too many bills on the agenda to mention all of them, I want to highlight three others. 1363 would improve ordination between new mexico land grants and the public land agencies on traditional uses of public land. S.
▶ 0:28:16Sen. Heinrich: 1787 would protect the dolores river in colorado by establishing a national conservation area and special management area on the public land along the river. S. 2273 would allow the state of wyoming greater flexibility in how they manage state revenues derived from state lands.
▶ 0:28:38Sen. Heinrich: New mexico recently needed congressional action to change how we use stateline revenues, so I know how important it is that this committee addressed the state trust land issues quickly as they arise and I will hold to the rest of my comments on other bills until we have reached them on the agenda. I yield back my time.
▶ 0:28:57Chair Lee: Thanks so much. Now we are going to move to a series of rollcall votes on two bills. I want to thank ranking member heinrich for his work to come to the agreement to vote on bills -- bills by voice and we will begin holding a rollcall call vote on two bills and invite the sponsors of these bills to speak to them and ask they keep those remarks short as several colleagues are juggling their duties with other committees and we have one who has to leave soon to present on the senate
▶ 0:29:27Chair Lee: Floor. I support each of these bills and I encourage colleagues to vote in favor of them. First, we have agenda item number 10, s. 2060. S.
▶ 0:29:46Chair Lee: 2016 amends the chugach land exchange and the chair recognizes senator murkowski on this point.
▶ 0:30:03Sen. Murkowski: Thank you and thank you for including this bill on the agenda today. I'm glad that we are at this point. We have in working on this for sometime. I am disappointed the committee will not be able to reach bipartisan agreement on this. I will note that in the house where things are contentious now they not only received bipartisan agreement on this same bill but did so unanimously . There is no question, Mr.
▶ 0:30:31Sen. Murkowski: Chairman and ranking member, this land exchange is in public interest. For those who have forgotten history, 35 years ago we saw the largest oil spill in the country , the exxon valdez discharge of 11 million gallons of crude oil into princely him sound and we know the impact there but the people in that area are still dealing with the impacts some 35 years later.
▶ 0:31:01Sen. Murkowski: Those were there was -- their lands are those were their land subject to the alaska native claims settlement act and since that time they have been trying to deal with the balance of conservation lands on the surface estate while the ansi has the subsurface state -- state. It is a classic example of a split state.
▶ 0:31:28Sen. Murkowski: The chugach people cannot do much of anything on their lands without federal approval. It is not what the alaska native claims settlement act promised in terms of their sovereignty, and terms of their ability to be able to advance their economic and conservation interests.
▶ 0:31:49Sen. Murkowski: The federal government has taken much of the federal value out of native lands in south-central alaska and that is the problem here. If you are trying to say we have to somehow get equal value, it would not happen, could not happen, and I think that will be the point of any amendments that would ask for this. So Mr.
▶ 0:32:14Sen. Murkowski: Chairman I am willing to spend a lot of time talking about the history and why this land exchange is so important, why resolving this estate is so important. I recognize we are limited on time so I am happy to field questions but I would also note my calling to the left has rounded out our quorum. So I'm happy to defer.
▶ 0:32:36Chair Lee: In light of that, I would like to go ahead and take these two rollcall votes and then finish the voice vote and recognize everybody who wants to speak afterwards the commit he will vote on s. 20 as amended. >> Mr. lee. Mr. barrasso. Mr. risch. Mr. daines. Mr. cotton. Mr. mccormick. Mr. justice. Mr. cassidy.
▶ 0:33:07Chair Lee: Mr. heinrich. Mr. wyden. Ms. cantwell. Ms. hirono. Mr. king. >> yes by proxy. >> Ms. cortez masto. Mr. hickenlooper. Mr. padilla. Gallego. Mr. -- Mr.
▶ 0:33:36Chair Lee: Gallego >> no by proxy. >> the ayes are 13 and the nays are seven.
▶ 0:33:45Sen. Murkowski: For the record, the bill is 2016.
▶ 0:33:51Chair Lee: The committee will consider the american voices and federal land act as amended. The chair recognizes senator barrasso to speak to the bill he has agreed to delay his or marks until afterwards. The court will call the role. It has been seconded that we proceed. >> Mr. lee. >> aye. >> Mr. barrasso. Mr. risch. Mr. daines. Mr. cotton.
▶ 0:34:21Chair Lee: >> Mr. mccormick. Mr. cassidy Ms. hyde-smith. Ms. murkowski. Mr. heinrich. Mr. wyden. Cantwell. Ms.cantwell. -- Ms. cantwell. Ms. hirono. Mr. king. Ms. cortez masto. Mr. hickenlooper. Mr. padilla. Mr. gallego.
▶ 0:34:56Chair Lee: On this boat, the a -- vote the ayes are 11 and the nays are 11.
▶ 0:35:05Chair Lee: This bill on the other one will be reported favorably to the senate. Let's now move to the voice vote on the remaining agenda items, which the ranking member and I have both agreed can be handled by voice vote. All those in favor of these -- it has been moved and seconded that we adopt both of those by voice. Yes.
▶ 0:35:34Chair Lee: So it has been moved and seconded that we now proceed to a vote on 10 bills by voice or they are agenda items number 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 14. All those in favor, saying aye. All those opposed, saying nay. The ayes have it. The bills will be reported favorably. >> I asked to be recorded as a no on agenda item number five.
▶ 0:36:05Chair Lee: Any other members want to be reported as a no on any of these? With that quit next at-bat will be senator barrasso, who will speak to his bill. We thank those who have come form a quorum and senator barrasso will be recognized.
▶ 0:36:23Sen. Barrasso: I appreciate the positive vote. I want to thank you in the ranking member for holding this important markup. This bill is called the american voices in federal lands act. I think it is important. It gives necessary guardrails for our land management agencies . I'm concerned about the lack of information on who is leaving comments, public comments on the bureau of land management this happened at a hearing in the past.
▶ 0:36:51Sen. Barrasso: We had someone from the blm testify and during that testimony it had to do with public lands in wyoming and so many negative comments were coming in and all the locals were saying one thing and basically asked, who are the people making comments? Do we actually have a record of who is coming in comments? I raise concerns it was communist china -- was communist china allowed to leave comments impacting how we use and manage our natural resources?
▶ 0:37:21Sen. Barrasso: I was not able to get a response that said we are checking in to see who is coming in with the information. We asked, could ai be leaving them? Could bots believing them? There was no record. It was peculiar to the people of wyoming when you saw the number of comments coming in and at the same time we have reports of communist china wanting to buy farmland and ranchland across the west and it was enough of an issue that I wanted to put together this piece of legislation to make sure that we
▶ 0:37:53Sen. Barrasso: Know where comments are coming. We want every U.S. citizen and groups and organizations represented the citizens to have an opportunity to have their voice heard. That is important. I do not want to hear that ai or bots or foreign adversaries are the ones impacting our decisions and these are important policies related to public land. Thank you for bringing this to a vote today and thank you to my colleagues for adopting it.
▶ 0:38:20Sen. Heinrich: I want to thank the sponsor for his work on this. This bill has been described as an effort to prevent artificial intelligence and bots from summoning comments to bureau of land management public, processes. That is something we can support as a goal. I have issues with the mechanics of this bill.
▶ 0:38:43Sen. Heinrich: It is going to require american citizens to prove that they are citizens before their comments will be considered by the blm and that is more complicated than it seems on the surface. The original bill text would have included -- excluded comments from state and local governments because while governments are persons under federal law they are not citizens. The mmn just adopted fixed that for most corporations, but still excludes tribal corporations under tribal law.
▶ 0:39:12Sen. Heinrich: If a tribal corporation wants to comment on proposed blm action, it cannot, even though nontribal corporations can. This has led to some fundamental mechanics with this legislation as it currently stands, but I will look forward to continuing to work with the sponsor. I think we can all agree we do not want ai commenting on blm plans. We don't want bots spamming public comments, but we have to get details right.
▶ 0:39:44Sen. Heinrich: We have senator padilla on the democratic side wants to speak. We are going to alternate between republicans and democrats. Go ahead.
▶ 0:39:57Sen. Padilla: I want to thank members of the padilla -- of the committee for supporting the horses at theodore national -- theater roosevelt national park are central to the experience, capturing the imagination of visitors and maintaining a historic scene from teddy roosevelt's time here and there been multiple times, including as recently as 2022, to remove the horses from the park.
▶ 0:40:22Sen. Padilla: Every attempt has been made with overwhelming opposition from the public. There has been tremendous support from the public for the wild horses in the park. So we have work to craft a balanced, durable solution to provide permanent protection for the horses in the park. The national park service is required to maintain not fewer than 150 horses at the park, aligned with the population levels needed to maintain a healthy and genetically diverse heard.
▶ 0:40:53Sen. Padilla: Again, I appreciate the support by the committee of the legislation, which were flex the broad support along those who -- among those who value the heritage of the park and ties to the legacy of theodore roosevelt. Again, thank you.
▶ 0:41:11Sen. Padilla: Thank you, Mr. chairman. I want to begin by thanking you for organizing this meeting to move bills add committee in support of making member heinrich. I want to thank senator wyden for his leadership on the national prescribed fire act. Of which I am a cosponsor.
▶ 0:41:33Sen. Padilla: Prescribed fires are a key to effectively address wildfires, a proven wildfire mitigation tool that is important to have in our arsenal. It addresses hazardous fuel loads and increases ecological health and resiliency of landscapes when m lamented -- and lamented -- implemented. I'm pleased to see the committee take the issue up and I appreciate that two of my bills were included on the agenda.
▶ 0:42:05Sen. Padilla: I have to be honest and disappointed they do not make it on the short list to actually perceive a vote, so my first bill would provide a simple land exchange to the national park service in your 70 national park and U.S. for service.
▶ 0:42:26Sen. Padilla: Both federal agencies have asked for this exchange to create more seamless boundaries and it is supported by ranchers who have allotments impacted by the current boundaries. The second of my bills would establish an interest-bearing account for nonfederal contributions to the highly successful lower colorado multi-species program.
▶ 0:42:53Sen. Padilla: This has eroded over time due to inflation, which results in higher costs to projects, creating an interest-bearing account will enhance program success and save the government money I reducing the amount needed in future federal appropriations. Both bills passed the committee last congress by a voice vote without any opposition.
▶ 0:43:17Sen. Padilla: As I understood it, this met criteria to be eligible for a markup, so with that said I look forward to seeing these bills on the shortlist for a vote in the next markup. And lastly I want to speak on an immense I filed two s. 858, the hershel "woody" williams national medal of honor monument location act.
▶ 0:43:46Sen. Padilla: An act restricts new monuments without an act from congress. Throughout my time in the senate , there are two port museums on the national mall, the smithsonian national museum of the american latino and american women's history museum, that we have been advocating for.
▶ 0:44:05Sen. Padilla: Senator cruz and I have a bipartisan bill to do that for the latino museum and senator klobuchar has a bill to do that for the women's museum, to formally take the step to allow for these museums to be built on the national mall as we have approved for the national medal of honor monument on the national mall. Both of these bills enjoy support from several members of the committee.
▶ 0:44:32Sen. Padilla: They are bipartisan, so I agree that the sacrifices made by medal of honor recipients should have a place for all americans to see in our nation's capital, but I also believe the story of the american latino and the simultaneous fight for equality by american women should equally be enshrined on the national mall. My men meant would add language to s. 858 to allow the latino and women's museums to be built on the mall.
▶ 0:45:05Sen. Padilla: I wanted to go on the record as ranking member on the rules committee. I know our bills to build smithsonian museum fall within the jurisdiction so for that reason I did not offer the men meant to people today. As the national medal of honor monument goes to the floor, it serves as a reminder about the importance that comes to showcasing our rich american history on the national mall and continuing to work with you and every member of the committee to make that a reality for the
▶ 0:45:36Sen. Padilla: Latino and women's mediums. Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 0:45:39Chair Lee: We are happy to work with you to get those teed up for market votes and also working to get bills on the floor for floor action. I want to make a brief comment on s. 2015, the national prescribed fire act by senator wyden.
▶ 0:46:03Chair Lee: And I was happy to support the bill today moving out of committee before it advances to the senate floor I made clear to senator wyden and his team we will need an appropriate budgetary offset and look forward to working with senator wyden on that. I'm sure we can get that done. It is a good thing he happens to be on finance, so senator wyden.
▶ 0:46:32Sen. Wyden: I am looking at my colleague. We remember the challenge of doing work in a bipartisan way in this committee and it is not for the faint hearted and I want to commend you at senator heinrich for bringing us together for the prescribed fire tool which is particularly important because it is underused now and it is an incredible opportunity to do the preventive work that we know is so important. All through the west, it gets hard -- hot and dry.
▶ 0:47:01Sen. Wyden: The reality is we all agree it is hot and dry. We have a lightning strike in are part of the worlds, a fire, all of a sudden you have an inferno on your hands and all over my state people are hungry and they do not see this as a blue issue or read issue. They just want to get out there and do the work and you are giving us a chance to do this, so I think this is really the wave of the future and I see my friend from alaska.
▶ 0:47:32Sen. Wyden: We dealt with secure rule schools and a host of measures that we thought were useful tools. I think prescribed fires going to be important. We have a business summit in oregon every fall and people ask about what is going to be talked about.
▶ 0:47:54Sen. Wyden: When I mentioned in the opening discussion that I was going to talk about prescribed fire, that was the biggest applause of the day from every note and cranny of the state because they said, those guys on the energy and national resources committee are up to some good stuff, so I think senator heinrich and senator lee and we work on a lot of issues. I think this is one that will make a big difference and I want my colleague to know we will work closely on the challenge.
▶ 0:48:22Chair Lee: I look forward to working with you on that and on secure rural schools so it is on his way. Another christmas miracle. Senator heinrich.
▶ 0:48:35Sen. Heinrich: First, I want to recognize senator murkowski for her good faith work on 2016, the chugach land exchange oil spill recovery act and for her continued commitment to address the unique and complex land issues in alaska. I have several concerns with the legislation. We only had five business days to work through that, which was not enough.
▶ 0:49:01Sen. Heinrich: This bill directs land exchange of 231,000 acres of the chugach alaska subsurface estate for about 65,000 acres of public land. I understand the department of interior report identified roughly 26,000 acres of land potentially available for exchange, however the bill proposes to exchange 65,000 acres of public land, roughly 40,000 acres more than the
▶ 0:49:31Sen. Heinrich: Department identified. That means we are still missing analysis on some additional lands and I do not believe we have a map to understand precisely are those come from yet. So with no analysis we do not know the value of a plan that will ultimately be privatized and this bill departs from some of the principles that have long guided these exchanges, including equal value provisions and public interest determinations so I prepared an amendment on this today.
▶ 0:50:02Sen. Heinrich: I'm not going to offer that amendment. Instead, I hope with more time I can continue to work with senator murkowski as the bill advances to the floor.
▶ 0:50:13Sen. Murkowski: I thank the committee for helping advance s. 2016 and the cooperation we received on this. I will take you on your word as we vest to the floor with this measure. You mentioned not having maps.
▶ 0:50:33Sen. Murkowski: I'm told we have included the legal descriptions within the text but the reason there is no maps is the parcels are so small it is hard to identify so working through some of the specific issues I think is going to be important as we move forward here and what I'm trying to do, as with so many of these very local, parochial matters that relate back to the alaska native land settlement, even though that settlement was 50
▶ 0:51:05Sen. Murkowski: Years ago, there are still issues that remain to be addressed, still inequities that remain to be addressed. This matter as it relates to chugach is one of those inequities. Our landless bill is another one.
▶ 0:51:23Sen. Murkowski: I am thankful that last evening a small measure was extended when we got an additional five years to complete the alaska native vietnam veterans allotment applications so that those who served in vietnam are not left out of their entitlement to land, so happy to work with the committee on not only the chugach bill but on so many of the others.
▶ 0:51:53Sen. Murkowski: I want to make a brief comment to senator wyden's bill with the national prescribed fire act. A lot of history that we have here coming from the west and understanding the devastating impact of wildfires in our areas.
▶ 0:52:11Sen. Murkowski: And in your states you have tribal interests and members in alaska and we have the wisdom of ages when it comes to dealing with fires and the concept of cultural fires as a proactive action to reduce the dangers and
▶ 0:52:43Sen. Murkowski: Hazards of wildfires, this is something that as I'm visited -- visiting with others in arctic nations we talk about the use of being smart with early prescribed burns, just when the snow is starting to recede. The grasses are coming up, but you literally create a fire.
▶ 0:53:07Sen. Murkowski: This is not some new signs that has come about but something that native peoples have been leaning in on firm centuries so I am very supportive of the bill senator wyden. There are what we feel to be significant equities for the indian affairs committee, of which I chair. You have references to indian tribes, tribal governments, tribal resources, and more.
▶ 0:53:34Sen. Murkowski: Not all these terms are defined and when we see that it raises some flags there. We often end up with some alaska tribal entities, including our ancs, being left out and ineligible. I want to make sure we are getting definitions senator heinrich, the point you made regarding senator barrasso's bill, looking forward to working with my colleagues on that.
▶ 0:54:04Sen. Murkowski: Thank you for the good work of the committee in getting so many of these matters moved up today.
▶ 0:54:08Chair Lee: Thanks so much, senator murkowski. Anyone else want to be recognized? Speak, sing, offer poetry? >> one final thank you for your staff's good wor with my -- work with mine on the brian head bill. I think that will calm a lot of nerves.
▶ 0:54:31Chair Lee: Thanks for working with us. We have gotten to a good place. Thanks so much to you and your team. Thanks to all the members for coming here today and having no further business before the committee we stand adjourned. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap.org]