Washington, D.C. — Congressman Paul Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-09) issued the following statement after introducing HR 34, the Land and Social Security Optimization (LASSO) Act, legislation requiring 10% of revenue generated by lands under the administrative jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior (DOI), including submerged lands on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), and the Forest Service to be deposited into the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund:

“This legislation is a win-win. The LASSO Act shores up the component of the Social Security trust funds that pays Social Security benefits to retired workers, their spouses, their children, and survivors of deceased insured workers.

It also unlocks domestic energy potential by encouraging activities that generate revenue on public land, including onshore and offshore energy development, livestock grazing, and timber harvesting.  This maintains the federal government’s obligation to promote the highest use of public lands. Despite this obligation, our public lands are underperforming, and more than 1.6 million acres of public lands were locked up under the Biden Administration, threatening U.S. economic prosperity and national security.

Were this legislation to have been enacted in fiscal year 2023, nearly $2 billion would have been deposited into the OASI Trust Fund, reducing the Trust Fund’s FY 2023 shortfall of $70.4 billion by 3%, stated Congressman Gosar.