Norman D. Dicks: “The bottom line here is the Kennedy amendment will cut timber harvesting on a Federal forest from 4.9 to 3.2 or 1.7…”

“The bottom line here is the Kennedy amendment will cut timber harvesting on a Federal forest from 4.9 to 3.2 or 1.7 million reduction, and that means a loss of revenue, a loss of jobs, and a very significant impact. And the gentleman simply does not have it understood that there is no subsidy here. I mean we tried to explain it to him over and over again, but there is no subsidy. People bid on these contracts, they bid on these contracts, and in purchaser credits they bid lower because they have to build the roads. In the other case they bid more, bid more for the timber, because the Government pays for the roads, and the GAO report says that overall, when we net it all out, we still made $300 million even though we spent $900 million in payments back to the counties when we spent it in two or three other categories that should not be considered cost of producing the timber. This was done because we decided that they deserved part of the receipts. We could have put them all in the Treasury. If they all went in the Treasury it would be over 23 to 1 in a positive cash flow. So I appreciate the gentleman yielding, and I would urge us to get on and let us vote on the amendment.”