Political Quotes

“it is interesting to stand before the Senate this afternoon to discuss this amendment in the context of fiscal responsibility. The amendment that is proposed by my colleague from New Hampshire is about eliminating a subsidy for the timber industry. But when we look to it, it is very specific. It is not the elimination of subsidies for assistance throughout our National Forest System. It is just specific as to one national forest, and that is the Tongass, located in the State of Alaska. If, in fact, what we are focusing on today is looking at cost cutting, looking at efficiencies, looking at elimination of Federal funding in areas where it doesn't make sense, should we not be looking at this amendment and its application across the country? Wouldn't the supporters want to hold timber programs in all national forests to the same standards to eliminate subsidies and financial waste? When we look at a list of our national forests, we have some 111 national forests spread across the country. Mr. President, 105 of the 111 national forests spend more on their timber programs than they collect in their receipts. This is not just focusing on the Tongass because it is way out of whack in terms of the costs that are expended on the Tongass; 105 out of 111 of the national forests spend more on their timber programs than they collect in receipts. What we have today is an amendment that singles out the Tongass National Forest and no other national forest in the country.…”