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Is the Centennial Initiative In Need of Life Support?

Submitted by Kurt Repanshek on March 29, 2007 - 5:40pm

Uh-oh. Looks like the green George is trying to shroud himself in with his National Park Centennial Initiative is going to turn into a pretty shabby patina.
After all, did you hear what Representative Dave Obey told Mary the other day when discussing the initiative?
"I regard it more as a press release than a serious program," said Dave.
That's quite a comment from the Democrat from Wisconsin who chairs the House Appropriations Committee and so just might know a thing or two about how soon the initiative should be placed on life support.
"He's not going to get this bill without a radically different way to pay for this initiative," Rep. Obey told Mary during a hearing into the Park Service's proposed FY08 budget.
As I noted earlier this month, the administration has been pretty non-committal when pressed about exactly how it would fund the $3 billion program.
But, as Congressman Obey pointed out during the hearing, as reported by Greenwire, administration plans to use cuts to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Forest Service, and the Land and Water Conservation Fund to underwrite it just won't fly.

Comments

Submitted by parkaholic (not verified) on March 30, 2007 - 6:02pm.
Dave Obey sounds more than willing to tear down the Centennial Challenge. I would suspect maybe a little political posturing. Of course the only way for the Government to come up with $3 Billion in spending (over a number of years) is to cut other programs. Sen Obey may not be the best source for info on the Centennial Challenge....unless of course you ask him if he wants to support it. If he doesn't then does that make him anti-eco? I say he puts up or shuts up
Submitted by Constituent (not verified) on March 30, 2007 - 6:32pm.
Rep. Dave Obey (not Senator) is a very strong supporter of national parks and environmental causes, but he is one of the few legislators secure enough in his own skin that he says what he believes. He doesn't do much posturing. He also doesn't have any respect for the administration's privatization agenda and will likely fight any effort to put private interests above public interests. That's likely why he's so skeptical.
Submitted by parkaholic (not verified) on March 31, 2007 - 6:51pm.
If Rep Obey is chairing the appropriations committee and such a staunch supporter of the NPS then why do the shortfalls exist in the first place?
Submitted by Jim Macdonald (not verified) on April 2, 2007 - 4:47am.
Ummm...ok, I never thought I'd be in a position to defend the Democrats, but it would be helpful to use arguments that make sense. Given that this is the first budget with a Democratic Congress in a dozen years, I'm not sure how Obey could be responsible for that. There's enough wrong with government, right? There's no need to resort to bad or trivial arguments.