Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his armed supporters who protested the Bureau of Land Management's roundup of Bundy's cattle last April broke the law and should be brought to justice, a Minnesota congresswoman said this morning.
Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) pressed BLM Director Neil Kornze on what the government has done to deter illegal grazing on public lands and to protect agency employees who have been threatened by anti-government violence.
"Mr. Bundy and his band of armed thugs are dangerous. They have committed acts that are criminal by threatening federal employees," McCollum told Kornze during a hearing this morning of the House Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee on BLM's $1.2 billion fiscal 2016 budget request. "They should be held accountable. They should be prosecuted."
McCollum, who is the panel's top Democrat, also cited a report from last May that two hooded men drove up next to a BLM employee on Interstate 15 in Utah, brandished a gun and held up a sign saying, "You need to die."
"What steps have been taken to stop this misuse of grazing without a permit and threatening federal employees who are just doing their jobs?" McCollum asked.
The question put Kornze in a bind, as Interior Department officials for several months have been deferring to the FBI and Justice Department to handle the government's response to the Bundy standoff.
As BLM approaches the one-year anniversary of the standoff on agency lands surrounding Bundy's Bunkerville, Nev., ranch, some conservationists are intensifying calls for the government to bring the rancher to justice.
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