Senate rejects Reid attempt to curtail privatizing park jobs

Suzanne Struglinski

Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2003 | 9:11 a.m.

WASHINGTON-- The Senate on Tuesday rejected an amendment by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and other Democrats that would have prohibited government studies looking to privatize Interior Department jobs.

President Bush has listed competitive sourcing as one of his five government-wide reforms. Advocates of the idea say the competition would force greater efficiency. In July, the administration said each federal agency would decide how to handle competitive sourcing to help meet the president's overall management goals.

Reid wanted to stop the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and other Interior agencies from using any allocated funds to study outsourcing that could lead to employees losing their jobs to the private sector.

He offered the amendment to the Interior Department spending bill, which the Senate approved late Tuesday night.

During the debate, Reid estimated that 51 of 246 Park Service jobs in Nevada could be moved to the private sector and the studies could cost up to $3,000 per person. He wanted to redirect those funds to take care of maintenance backlogs, a spokeswoman said.

"Just because a private contractor knows how to run a business doesn't mean he knows how to take care of our public parks," Reid said. "Our national parks and forests should be managed for posterity, not for profit."

The House included language in its bill passed earlier this year that would have ensured that the government jobs continued to be government jobs.

Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and other Republicans opposed Reid's amendment this time around.

"It is important to note that competitive sourcing is not privatization, nor is it outsourcing," Voinovich said. " It is public-private competition, a methodical process for evaluating the most efficient and cost-effective manner of providing a service that is commercial in nature and not inherently governmental."

The Senate instead approved an amendment by Voinovich and Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., that requires the Interior Department to give Congress detailed information on how it is implementing public-private competition.

But Reid's amendment to allow Barrick Gold Corp. to give 15 acres in Nye County to the Interior Deparment for development of visitor facilities for Death Valley National Park passed as did a technical change to the year-old Clark County Conservation of Public Land and Natural Resources Act. That amendment would provide federal land to Las Vegas for the construction of affordable housing for seniors. Last year's bill identified the wrong property.

Meanwhile, the Senate also included Sen. John Ensign's proposal to put $30 million toward environmental improvements at Lake Tahoe. Ensign and Reid announced the plan in August, and offered an amendment earlier this week to include it in this bill.

The language adds Lake Tahoe restoration projects to a list of beneficiaries of profits from federal land auctions in Clark County. Under the 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, auction profits must go to school, infrastructure projects or conservation efforts in the state.

The House version of the bill, passed in July, however, does not contain the provision. It will have to make it through conference negotiations before becoming part of the law.