Obama push to double conservation spending draws critics

[alp227]

President Obama says he’s constantly telling his two daughters to turn off the television, stop using Skype and go outside. He wants to get more American kids off the couch and out the door, reconnecting with the world and its natural beauty.

And he wants to make it easier for Americans to use parks and public lands, saying that too many “can go days without stepping on a single blade of grass.”

Toward that end, the president wants Congress to double spending — to $900 million next year — on a conservation fund that’s used to buy more property for the federal government. Currently, the government owns 635 million acres, or roughly three out of every 10 acres, with the largest chunk in Alaska.

But with the nation deep in debt and facing a long backlog of projects on its public lands, many Republicans are lining up against Obama’s plan, leaving its fate uncertain.

“I think we should take care of what we have before we acquire more land,” said Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. “Most people would say let’s maintain what we have before we acquire more of it, I don’t care what it is. . . . To me, it’s a pretty straightforward solution to oppose it.”

Full story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama_push_to_double_conservation_spending_draws_critics/2011/04/03/AFdJdQYC_story.html

[Cali_Democrat]

1. Republicans are against more conservation spending?

Don't conservatives want to conserve? :shrug:

[democracy1st]

2. I thought he was tightening boot straps!