“All those things are important, but, at some point, we need to recognize the enormous amount of assets that the American people own through their federal government and the fact that we are actually losing money by the way we are managing them instead of generating money.”
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) explained how the federal government has failed to put America’s public land assets to use to help pay down the debt in a speech on the Senate floor.
Key excerpts of the speech are below:
“I have seen an estimate from the private sector—there are several of these—that our public land, our 620 million [acres], if we managed that land properly, could generate $90 million in revenue. So, $90 million could be generated by our public land. How? Through mineral harvesting, natural gas production, oil drilling, grazing for agriculture, hunting licenses, fishing licenses [and] camping permits. Do you know what our federal lands actually generate in money? We know the potential: $90 billion a year. That would help us pay down this debt.
“In 2023, our federal lands actually lost money. They lost $13 billion. We went from a potential of $90 billion—according to land-use experts, that is what they ought to be generating—to a loss of $13 billion. It’s embarrassing.”
. . .
“Under President Biden . . . they banned offshore drilling for most of America’s coastlines. They prohibited mining on over a million acres of lands. They canceled leases for oil and natural gas production. They paused all new permits for [liquified natural gas] LNG, which Europe is hungry for. They restricted hunting. They restricted fishing. They restricted hiking, and they buried our federal lands in red tape. That is why we lost $13 billion instead of gaining $90 billion a year.”
. . .
“We need to do better. I know that the focus right now, Madam President, is on spending—and it should be—and it is on designing a tax code that looks like somebody designed it on purpose, and it should be. All those things are important, but, at some point, we need to recognize the enormous amount of assets that the American people own through their federal government and the fact that we are actually losing money by the way we are managing them instead of generating money.”
Watch Kennedy’s full speech here.