Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Does Ted speak for Raul RE: fed lands?





In Sunday's editorial, Opinion Editor Marty Trillhaase of the Lewiston Tribune comments:
Congressman Raul Labrador was Idaho's highest ranking supporter of Sen. Ted Cruz, who cleaned up in the state's GOP presidential primary Tuesday - on a night when Donald Trump won everywhere else. But Cruz tied Labrador to a presidential campaign that would liquidate Idaho's federal lands. Speaking in Boise last weekend, Cruz said: "Too much land in this country, particularly in the West, is owned by the federal government. It's not right. It doesn't make sense. So we need to transfer that land back to the states - or even better, back to the people."
Apparently, Cruz thinks divestiture will save the federal government money because he expects the proceeds to be plowed back into maintaining the national parks. But the feds will benefit at Idaho's expense. At Congressman Mike Simpson's request, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service looked into it and concluded the state would lose at least $392 million a year managing those federal lands - and that's not counting another $101 million fighting fires. More here.
 Source 


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