Date: 2007-06-26
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

I thank the gentleman for yielding. I want to thank him and the ranking member for bringing this bill to the floor and certainly thanking the staff that has worked with all of the Members on this legislation. I think this is a very good bill. I think this bill reflects the priorities of America. that we would once again start reinvesting in the Clean Water Revolving Fund so that people and communities can meet their obligations for clean water. And as millions of Americans set out across America with their families to visit the national parks. this bill makes legislation about the importance of those national parks. about the value of those national parks and the importance that we lay out a plan over the next 10 years to restore them and to reinvest in them so that the visitors a decade from now will have the same experience or a better experience when they visit the national parks as people do today. The national parks have far too much neglect in terms of the backlog of projects that need to be done. to enhance them. to improve them and to protect the national parks. The stateside of the Land and. Water Conservation allows the Federal Government to be a. partner with local communities on their priorities for the protection of open space and the enhancement of recreational opportunities. to improve the quality of life in our communities. We have seen this very. very successful program to enhance the communities. to enrich the experience for families in those communities. Finally. I would say in the Indian education programs where again as Indian tribes and others have more and more say in the education of their young people. where theyre bringing about very innovative programs. to see us again invest in those programs. What we. see now is we have a record number of- Indian children who have gone on to college. who are enrolled in college. who are getting advanced degrees. Weve got to continue to improve that program and this legislation does it. I also want to thank the committee for recognizing the Rosie the Riveter World War H Home Front National Park. This is a park thats growing in popularity. It tells the incredible and magnificent story of the women who came to the shipyards in California to build the ships to win the war in the Pacific and what that meant to us as country. as a culture. what it meant to the integration of the workforce during World War II. and certainly what. it meant in terms of supplying our troops with the materials necessary to win the war in the Pacific. We have seen women from all across the country come with their daughters. with their granddaughters. with their great granddaughters and explain to them. this is where I worked. this is where we built and launched a ship a week in these shipyards. Its remarkable the ceremonies. that are held there. to see these women. to come there and to leave their historical documents. to leave their letters home. to leave their welders cards and their ironworkers cards with the museum. and now we will be able to share all of that with the public as part of a greater effort in the National Park Service to develop the home front national park system all across the country where those who were on the home front during the war enabled us to successfully win and prosecute the Second World War. I want to thank the committee and the members.