Congress’s Sneaky Tactic to Grab More U.S. Land for the Government

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Heritage Foundation:

Congress has returned from the mid-term elections and members are hammering out the details of the National Defense Authorization Act.

NDAA, which has passed for more than 50 years consecutively, provides policy guidance for the U.S. defense budget.

The importance of the NDAA to the defense budgeting process and its traditional status as a “must-pass” piece of legislation makes for an inviting target for pet projects and wasteful spending.

Does Congress really need to add to the federal estate when the feds already owns 640 million acres of land, approaching one-third the total area of the United States?

Unfortunately, as this year’s lame duck session winds down, some lawmakers are trying to end-run the normal legislative process in a rushed, closed-door approach. This presents an opportunity not only to lard up the NDAA with pork, but will have the effect of muddying up defense policy making while forcing through bad policies in an opaque manner.

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In the 2015 NDAA, rumored provisions include designation of 250,000 additional acres of wilderness, four new national parks and seven national park studies (future parks to be).

These provisions would lead to more government ownership of America’s land and more restrictive land use policies that prohibit energy development and economic activity.

 

Does Congress really need to add to the federal estate when the feds already owns 640 million acres of land, approaching one-third the total area of the United States? Congress should be transferring more responsibility to the states and private owners, not taking more land away from them. Doing so would allow for energy production and more economic activity.