of interior to talk about the importance of this bill, two of whom are from colorado, secretary ken salazar, secretary gale norton talking about the need for this legislation, the american society of landscape architects. the list goes on and on and on of people who support this legislation. they support it because we value the outdoors. we value our environment. we value our public lands. colorado has long been the gateway to public lands in this country but now it's the headquarters to our nation's public lands with the bureau of land management headquartered in grand junction, colorado. so these twofer bills put together represent that chance in a lifetime as we've heard from many of the supporters of this legislation. in colorado it was called the holy grail of conservation legislation by the durango herald this morning. it's an opportunity for every state to benefit. i have a list of every state in the country right here and the work -- ill' pull one out. alabama. if you look at alabama, alabama, the national parks backlog, nearly $30 million. land and water conservation fund has provi

democrat secretaries of the interior, most recently secretary zinke and secretary jewel, secretary ken salazar from colorado, secretary bruce babbitt, another westerner from arizona under president clinton. this talks about the importance of the great american outdoors act and how it will help ensure a better, brighter future for nature and for all of us. and speaking of sort of bright futures, some people have said on the floor that this legislation was crafted in secret. what could be further from the truth? the land and water conservation fund has been around since 1965, 1964 in this chamber. it was approved by the committee just a couple months ago. the restore our parks act cleared the energy and natural resources committee just a couple of months ago. it was debated. there were amendments offered. they failed. we combined these two pieces that came out of committee, and we put them into the great american outdoors act, and that's what we are being asked to vote on tonight. of course, the secretary's letter talks about the dollars that will be going to our communities, the opportunities f

the senate foreign relations committee on african affairs, and legislative director for senator ken salazar. j stephen morrison is the vice and thet for csis global health policy center. dr. morrison has directed several high level commissions, is a frequent commentator on global health in africa and foreign assistance. he served in the clinton administration and taught for 12 years at the johns hopkins school of advanced international studies. vermont -- at d sis, heor to joining served as the national intelligence officer for africa from 2015 to 2018, leading the analytic efforts on sub-saharan african issues and served as the personal representative at inter-agency policy meetings. the cia senior analyst on sub-saharan africa. director as the nsc senegal, and- and contributed toward the u.s. strategy toward sub-saharan africa signed by president obama in 2012 that led to the recognition of the somalian government for the first time since 1991. he spent two years abroad working in nigeria from 2008 to 2010. with that, we will get started and let me talk -- turned to ambassador linda thoma

this letter includes two secretaries of interior from colorado, senator ken salazar, who was secretary of interior under barack obama from 2009 to 2013 and secretary gayle norton, secretary of interior under president george w. bush from 2001 to 2006. this was a letter they sent to us on june 3, 20. it is an historic letter with six previous secretaries of interior, including secretary zinke, jewel, salazar, norton and secretary babbott. i would ask it be included in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. gardner: we have a chance to show that the american people that indeed republicans and democrats can come together for their good of their country to provide great things for future generations. and despite the bickering that you see on the nightly talk shows, this congress can come together, pass a great american outdoors act that can restore faith in our government to do what people hope we will do, and that's to come together, to work together, to inspire each other with those dreams of previous generations who protected our lands and had the idea and the foretho