mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman for yielding me this time . 
mr. speaker , i rise today in opposition to the rule and in strong opposition to what i consider a very bad bill . 
this department of the interior appropriations bill as written is a direct assault against our nation 's environment , and it should be defeated . 
i am particularly outraged that the bill completely zeros out the stateside grant program of the land and water conservation fund , a program that has been an enormous help to our local communities and the families who live in them . 
the stateside land and water conservation fund has helped to preserve open space , slow urban sprawl , and give our children safe places to play . 
it is a true partnership with federal grants requiring a full match from states and local communities . 
it is a program that has worked , and it has worked well . 
but this republican bill completely eliminates the program . 
it zeros it out , walks away from our local communities . 
the land and water conservation fund , lwcf , is based upon a simple concept : it takes revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling and invests them in our nation 's public land , letting states take the lead . 
for 40 years this program has a proven track record and benefited from strong bipartisan support . 
when congress decided to open the outercontinental shelf to oil drilling , we pledged to use some of its revenues for the public good . 
with the goal of meeting the nation 's growing need for recreation sites , congress established the lwcf trust fund and agreed to reinvest an annual portion of ocs revenue into federal land acquisition and state-assistance development programs . 
now even though lwcf takes in $ 900 million annually from oil and gas receipts , in recent years just a fraction of this funding has been used for its rightful purpose . 
and today , the republican leadership has taken their pillaging a step further by completely eliminating the stateside program and using the money for something else . 
this bill breaks our promise to the american people by not spending this funding the way we are supposed to . 
in all , the stateside program has helped communities by funding 40 , 000 projects nationally , success stories that can be found in every state and in 98 percent of u.s. counties . 
i urge my colleagues to ask their governors and their mayors and county commissioners if they want the stateside program to be eliminated . 
if the answer is no , vote against this bill . 
this cut is particularly harmful to our nation 's underserved areas . 
in fact , in many low-income urban communities , the stateside grant program is responsible for virtually all parks . 
this is about priorities , mr. speaker . 
this bill demonstrates that for the republican leadership , tax breaks for the wealthy few are more precious than open space . 
for this leadership , millionaires are more important than kids who need a safe place to play . 
and for this leadership , lobbyists win and families lose . 
we will hear the rhetoric from the other side claiming they did the best they could with what they had . 
they will complain that the allocation given to the subcommittee just was not big enough . 
they should save their crocodile tears because those same members voted for the budget that created those allocations . 
they created this mess , and now the families of this country are paying the price . 
i urge my colleagues to vote against this rule and reject this bad bill . 
