[Page: S8877]---
Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I come to the floor to say a brief word about an extraordinary and very positive statement that the President of the United States made in the last 45
[Page: S8878]
The President, just this morning, called on us, in a bipartisan fashion, not to miss the opportunity to push forward on this very important piece of legislation--one which his administration has supported and helped to design. The Conservation and Reinvestment Act is really Congress's way of responding to a need that the American people have and have expressed themselves clearly on over and over, from the South to the North, from the East to the West, in meetings, through polling information that we have, through calls made to this Congress, through letters written, through e-mails sent--to say to us that now is the time to set aside a small but significant portion of the surplus that we have to invest--not for 1 year, or 6 months, not occasionally when we can, but to invest permanently a stream of revenue for conservation programs in our Nation.
I guess I can speak so passionately about this issue because the money we are speaking about investing is coming from offshore oil and gas revenues, 85 percent of which are produced off of the coast of Louisiana. We are proud of that production. We are doing it in a much more environmentally sensitive way and have been doing it for 50 years. But all of the revenue generated off of that oil and gas production has gone to the Federal Treasury. It is hard to account for how they have been spent, and they have not been spent for environmental investments for our Nation--a promise that was made 30 years ago but not kept.
So the Conservation and Reinvestment Act, which the President spoke about and continues to urge us to move forward on, is a way for us to redirect appropriately and in a very fiscally responsible way some of those revenues back to our States and local governments to help with the expansion of our parks and recreation areas in both rural and urban areas, for the preservation and restoration of our coastlines.
We in Louisiana feel strongly about getting some help from Washington to restore an eroding coastline, helping us to invest in wildlife conservation and preservation and, in many ways, including historic preservation. I will give to the staff a list of the 63 Senators, Republicans and Democrats, who are supporting this legislation, to acknowledge again in the RECORD the great work that the House leadership did--Congressman DON YOUNG, Congressman JOHN DINGELL, and Congressman GEORGE MILLER, leaders in the House.
It has truly been a bipartisan-bicameral effort.
I will submit for the RECORD the names of 63 Senators who the President mentioned in his remarks this morning, thanking us for our support and joining with him in this effort, and finally shaping this bill in such a way that both parties can be proud, for which we in Louisiana can be grateful, and that Governors and mayors and elected officials and leaders all across our Nation can be happy to work on in partnership with the Federal Government to make a significant, meaningful, reliable investment now as we begin this century--something our children and our grandchildren can count on for a more beautiful nation in 2025 or 2050. We can't wait. This is the year to make it a reality.
I thank the Chair. Again, I thank Senator LOTT and Senator DASCHLE for their excellent leadership.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
Mr. WELLSTONE. I thank the Chair. I thank the Senator from Louisiana for her excellent work. I just had three members of the department of natural resources of Minnesota in my office today encouraging me to support this measure. It is very important legislation.
END