By Evan Bell | Cronkite News Service
To U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Prescott, his bill to bar the president from establishing new national monuments in Arizona without congressional approval is simply about transparency.
“Right now, the president of the United States, with a stroke of a pen, can lock up millions of acres of land,” said Gosar.
To U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Tucson, it’s a threat to a law that has helped preserve such treasures as the Grand Canyon and the Sonoran Desert.
“Maybe Teddy Roosevelt shouldn’t have made the Grand Canyon a national monument. Maybe Woodrow Wilson shouldn’t have created the National Park Service, either,” Grijalva said.
Their comments came Thursday as a House subcommittee considered two bills – including Gosar’s – that would amend the century-old Antiquities Act to rein in the president’s ability to proclaim national monuments on public land.
