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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 and
for addressing concerns about offshore incentives.
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
H.R. 701 would increase net budget costs. 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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