| The Administration strongly believes that now is the time to provide
a permanent stream of significant new resources to support State and
community efforts to protect wildlife and local green spaces, reinforce
Federal efforts to save natural and historic treasures, and expand
efforts at all levels to protect ocean and coastal resources. Such
investment would be both a gift to our children of today and a promise
to our children of tomorrow. This priority is reflected in the
President's Lands Legacy Initiative, which has been put before the
Congress in each of the past two years.
The Administration is pleased that H.R. 701 seeks to achieve many of
the same goals as the President's Lands Legacy Initiative, and therefore
urges prompt House passage of the bill. We do remain concerned about
several aspects of H.R. 701, and strongly support amendments to improve
and strengthen the legislation and thus increase the likelihood of final
enactment of an historic conservation legacy. We look forward to final
legislation that meets the above goals, and that
- contains no burdensome or unnecessary restrictions on current
Federal authorities, while providing fully protected and permanent
funding for all Land and Water Conservation Fund monies;
- ensures that all monies available under its provisions be used for
purposes consistent with the environmental and conservation goals of
the bill;
- ensures that funding for wildlife-related entities and programs is
primarily targeted to benefit at-risk and non-game species;
- establishes no new incentives for offshore exploration or
development, while ensuring coastal activities are consistent with
State Coastal Zone Management Plans;
- provides appropriate oversight authority to the Commerce
Department for coastal or marine plans without modifying the existing
responsibilities of other agencies; and
- provides appropriate protection for existing programs delineated
in the Administration's Lands Legacy Initiative, including appropriate
marine, coastal, forest, urban, and agriculture programs, that already
are working well to advance the goals of this legislation.
The Administration supports protected and permanent funding for
conservation purposes that is achieved through sound mechanisms within a
balanced budget framework. We commend the sponsors for dropping the
off-budget treatment in the original bill in the Managers' Amendment.
While we regret that an amendment addressing concerns about offshore
incentives was not made part of the Managers' Amendment by the Rules
Committee, we understand that the amendment will be offered on the floor
by Representatives Boehlert (R-NY), Markey (D-MA), and Pallone (D-NJ),
and we strongly support its adoption.
The Administration looks forward to working with the House and the
Senate to ensure enactment of an historic conservation legacy this year.
Pay-As-You-Go Scoring
OMB's preliminary scoring estimate of this bill is that it would
result in an increase in direct spending of about $7.8 billion in Fiscal
Years 2001-2005. The bill does not contain provisions to offset the net
budget costs. As a result, if the bill were enacted without any further
action to provide offsets, it could contribute to a sequester of
mandatory spending. The Administration supports this bill and will work
with the Congress to ensure that such an unintended sequester does not
occur.
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