Rep. Heller tries to cut park money

WASHINGTON — Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., pressed the first House amendment of his freshman year on Wednesday when he tried to cut federal spending to expand a North Carolina park.

The amendment would have prevented the use of federal funds to buy a 115-acre addition to a national historic site in Flat Rock, N.C.

Heller’s bid was defeated 245-183.

The bill, sponsored by another rookie lawmaker, Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., aimed to expand the Carl Sandburg Home Historic Site so a new visitors center and parking lot could be built and to protect surrounding areas from development.

Sandburg, a celebrated poet, lived in Flat Rock for the last two decades of his life.

Shuler’s bill passed, but not before Heller and other critics tried to make changes to it.

"We need to be cognizant of the fact that every time we add to the federal estate, it spreads our already limited resources even thinner," Heller said.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the additional land for the historic site will cost about $7 million.

"That seven million dollars is desperately needed to manage and maintain the land currently owned by the federal government," Heller said.

The vote on Heller’s amendment fell generally along party lines. Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., voted for it. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., voted against it.

Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said Heller’s amendment would shift the entire burden of expanding the historic site to the state of North Carolina, calling that "inconsistent and unfair."