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SALT LAKE CITY — Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, hopes to have a rough draft and map of his public lands initiative in Congress before the end of March.
Counties have the option of not being part of the bill, but "the fact everyone is still at the table is a good sign," Bishop told Utah lawmakers.
"My goal is to have finality so once these decision are made, they are made," he said, offering guarantees for those who use public lands for recreation, grazing and economic development, as well as conservation areas and giving the state a greater role in management.
Bishop and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, spoke and answered questions in the Utah Legislature on Thursday.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The derailment and explosion this week of a train carrying crude oil through West Virginia shows the need for President Barack Obama to approve the long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline, U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch said Thursday.
Hatch, Utah's senior Republican senator, made the comments Thursday during an annual appearance before Utah's Legislature.
Speaking to members of the state House of Representatives, Hatch said the explosion illustrates the risk of transporting oil by rail and the pipeline would be safer.
Congress has approved the Canada-to-Gulf Coast pipeline but Obama has threatened to veto it.
Hatch, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, also discussed the address by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a joint meeting of Congress next month.
House Speaker John Boehner invited Netanyahu without letting the White House know in advance. It angered the Obama administration as a breach of protocol and several Democratic lawmakers had said they will not attend the March 3 speech out of protest.
"Congress is a separate branch of government and we ought to have a right to do that if we want to, and I'm going to be there," Hatch said Thursday.
He called Netanyahu "tough as nails" and one of the great leaders of the world who is critical to U.S. interests in the Middle East.
"To raise the fuss that they have, I think, is pretty reprehensible," Hatch said.
He said if Vice President Joe Biden doesn't attend, Hatch will take his seat.
Earlier this year, Hatch was sworn in as the president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, making him the third in the line of presidential succession behind Biden and House Speaker John Boehner.
Hatch on Thursday also described a bill he's working on that would provide restitution to victims of child pornography.
"These children have not been able to get retribution against those people who have taken them on and exploited their lives in ways that are just repugnant to everything that's decent in this world."
Hatch also described Republican efforts to repeal and replace Obama's signature health care law, revamp tax laws and expand the military's Utah Test and Training Range west of Salt Lake City.
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Hatch said Utah's congressional delegation is standing together to protect Hill Air Force Base, which has new maintenance contracts for F-35 fighter jets and may end up taking care of foreign-owned planes. He stressed the need to expand the Utah Test and Training Range to accommodate the high-tech aircraft.
"We can't ever let those who want to kill Hill raise their ugly voices again," he told reporters later.
Bishop said recent presidential designations of national monuments using the federal Antiquities Act is "flat-out wrong, intellectual hypocrisy." He said the designations made starting with President Jimmy Carter were "used as a political tool to make a statement."
Bishop also said many people do not understand federalism means "people get to make choices for themselves." Instead, the congressman said, they turn to government for solutions to their problems, whether in Washington or in the states.
"The more money you get from us, the more problems you get from us," Bishop, a former Utah House speaker, advised the representatives. "If you work with us to try to cut the ties, we'll work with you" to get the ties cut.
In the Senate, Bishop sidestepped a question about what state lawmakers should do about Medicaid expansion. Even though the Affordable Care Act was "crappy" legislation and Congress was wrong to pass it, the decision rests with the Legislature, he said.
"You're going to have to decide which shade of gray is lighter or darker," Bishop said.
Hatch said he's working with members of Congress on a bill to replace the Affordable Care Act and give power to states to run health care programs.
The seven-term senator also told the House he is trying to find federal dollars to make a "long-term commitment" to making improvements to the state's roads.
"This is a well-run state. You are way ahead of other states with regard to your roads and bridges," Hatch said, adding he was proud of what lawmakers are doing to fund transportation. The senator did not offer details of his funding proposal.
As the president pro tempore of the Senate, Hatch said he may preside when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses Congress next month.
He said President Barack Obama is "very upset" that Congress invited the foreign leader to speak, but "the Congress is a separate branch of government, and we ought to have the right to do that."
