HB 29-15: Bir Tawil Research Base Establishment Act (Final vote)

[Joseph Cao]

This bill seems excessive. If there are no settlements there and no obvious reason to grant statehood, why are we doing this?

Why not admit an uninhabited patch of public land in the Virgin Islands as a state too, while we're at it? Or a nine-foot-square section of runway on a random aircraft carrier in the Pacific? They have as much claim to that right, if not better in the case of the aircraft carrier.

[Joseph Cao]

I have no intrinsic objections to research bases, but is Bir Tawil – smack in the middle of a politically unstable region – the best place for such a base?

[Joseph Cao]

I am at least glad that we are no longer discussing statehood for an uninhabited patch of land, and that if it is to be used for anything, a research base seems like the best course of action. Though I remain unconvinced that now is the best time to pursue it.

No objections to a final vote.

[Joseph Cao]

This looks likely to pass anyway. Nay.