Rep. Norm Dicks Holds a Hearing On the National Park Service
Political Transcript Wire › August 18, 2009
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Rep. Norm Dicks Holds a Hearing On the National Park Service
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT AND RELATED AGENCIES HOLDS A HEARING ON THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MARCH 27, 2007SPEAKERS: REP. NORM DICKS, D-WASH. CHAIRMAN REP. JAMES P. MORAN, D-VA. REP. MAURICE D. HINCHEY, D-N.Y. REP. JOHN W. OLVER, D-MASS. REP. ALAN B. MOLLOHAN, D-W.VA. REP. TOM UDALL, D-N.M. REP. BEN CHANDLER, D-KY. REP. ED PASTOR, D-ARIZ. REP. DAVID R. OBEY, D-WIS. EX OFFICIOREP. TODD TIAHRT, R-KAN. RANKING MEMBER REP. JOHN E. PETERSON, R-PA. REP. JOHN T. DOOLITTLE, R-CALIF. REP. JO ANN EMERSON, R-MO. REP. VIRGIL H. GOODE JR., R-VA. REP. JERRY LEWIS, R-CALIF. EX OFFICIOWITNESSES: MARY BOMAR, SERVICE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE DAN WENK, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, NATIONAL PARK SERVICEBRUCE SHEAFFER, COMPTROLLER, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE[*] DICKS: The committee will come to order. I want to welcome Mary Bomar, the new director of the National Park Service, for her first appearance before our subcommittee.Mary is a career employee with recent assignment as superintendent of Independence Mall and the northeast regional director. She brings a great deal of experience to this challenging job, and we are glad to have her here with us today.Director Bomar, I want to say at the outset that if the 2008 budget is an example of your leadership, we wish you had come earlier. The budget -- we may have to give the secretary a little credit, too.BOMAR: I was going to say -- yes.DICKS: The budget before us today is by far the most generous proposal for the operational costs of the parks that this committee has ever reviewed. The 12 percent, $206 million increase to park operations fully funds fixed costs and finances an additional 2,000 full time equivalent positions for the parks.Beyond this one-year increase for operations, the park proposes a commitment of $3 billion over 10 years as a park centennial challenge to restore the grandeur of our parks for the next generation of Americans. The $3 billion centennial initiative involves $1 billion from private philanthropy, and some members have expressed concern about the use of private gifts for our national parks. I'm not one of those members, by the way.We take those concerns seriously and will be reviewing carefully how the private funding will be managed. As we do so, however, it is important to observe that this private money is proposed as a supplement to a very generous base budget from the federal government for the parks.It is also important to recognize that private philanthropy has a long history in our parks, beginning with a donation to much of the Grand Teton park by the Rockefeller family after World War II, and there are many other examples. If managed carefully, speaking just as one member, I believe that private funds can play an appropriate and critical role for our parks.As chairman of a subcommittee with many other responsibilities, however, I must say that it is unfortunate that the badly needed increases for the parks come at the expense of other domestic priorities included in this bill. The Clean Water Program at EPA is reduced by almost $400 million, and critical programs at the Forest Service are cut by a net of $174 million. Land and Water Conservation funding is in near collapse.Within your own budget, there are serious questions about the elimination of the Stateside Conservation Grants Program and a reduction of $95 million for construction. This budget proposes very difficult choices. Based on the budget resolution being considered by the House this week, I am very hopeful that additional funds will be made available to avoid the most severe cuts and allow for critical investments in programs like the parks. Without these additional amounts, the increases for the parks will be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve.At the outset of this hearing, however, I want to again state my view that while there are difficult issues to address in this budget, however, the president's 2008 request for the parks is a very good start.Mr. Tiahrt?TIAHRT: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.Good morning, Director Bomar, and welcome.BOMAR: Good morning. Thank you, sir.TIAHRT: We're all looking forward to hearing the details about your outstanding budget request for fiscal year 2008 for the National Park Service. We also welcome Dan Wenk, the new deputy director, and Bruce Sheaffer, your long-time controller.As you know, this subcommittee has long championed the needs of the national parks, and while budgets in the past have been challenging, additional funds and o...See the full content of this document
