madam chairman , there are many important parts of this bill , but i want to speak briefly to the house about our love for the national parks .  we have about a $ 600 million backlog , and it is overwhelming to try to address this in an appropriation bill where money is so tight .  we have a bill called the national parks centennial act that tries to address this .  senators mccain , feinstein , and alexander are leading the fight in the senate and the gentleman from washington ( mr. baird )  , myself , as well as key appropriators such as the gentleman from virginia ( mr. wolf )  , the gentleman from ohio ( mr. regula )  , the gentleman from illinois ( mr. lahood )  , and others here in the house .  but what is before us today is actually very important , because even in a time of tight budgets the committee on appropriations has seen fit to raise the president 's request on national parks by $ 70 million over last year 's funding , and $ 20 million above the president 's approval .  at a time when we are fighting on so many different fronts to figure out how to balance our budget and move towards a balanced budget , where every trade-off between immunizations and medicaid and whether we support our troops and veterans benefits and all this , it is important to remember the legacy of america 's national parks , america 's gifts to the world , and i appreciate it very much in this overall important bill that they have increased the funding for the national parks .  