- May 17, 2013
- 68,846
- 33,780
- 2,290
2010 CBO report showing how much land is owned by the Gov't per State.
So, the State of Nevada only owns 18.9%.
https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42346.pdf
DeMint demands a block to Obama land-grab attempt « Hot Air
Americans should be wary of any plans a president has to seize land from the states without their consent. Any new plans to take away states freedom to use land as they see fit must be stopped.
Thats why I sponsored an amendment to block Mr. Obama from declaring any of the 14 lands listed in the memo as monuments. Unfortunately, the Senate, led by Democrats, rejected it on Thursday evening by a vote of 58-38.
It was particularly disappointing that the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, voted against the amendment. The government owns more than 80 percent of the land in Nevada and the unemployment rate there is 12.8 percent. Surely it would help job prospects if more land were open for business.
This is a nationwide problem. The government currently owns 650 million acres, or 29 percent of the nations total land.
Federal bureaucrats shouldnt be wasting time thinking up ways to acquire more, especially in the middle of a recession. Taking the nations resources offline will stifle job creation and dry up tax revenues.
If anything, the government should be selling land off, not locking more up. By voting against my amendment, the Democrats tacitly endorsed Mr. Obamas secret plan to close off millions more acres to commerce.
Its not the first time an administration has used this act to seize land from states. Jimmy Carter grabbed 50 million acres from Alaska over their loud objections, and Bill Clinton almost 6 million in 22 separate actions. These executive actions bypassed Congress altogether and made a mockery of state sovereignty. After all, if a state cant keep the federal government from unilaterally declaring that their land no longer belongs to them, then states have no real power at all and neither do the people, represented by Congress.
DeMints amendment got defeated on a party-line 58-38 vote.