Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa). Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I wish to express thanks to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman) for leading this discussion tonight. It is very important to many of us in rural America. Of course, my district, which includes seven national forests, has experienced increasingly devastating forest fires caused by overgrown, mismanaged, or even nonmanaged forests, and has been economically strangled by restrictions on forest management. Our Nation has already lost over 8\1/2\ million acres to wildfire, and the year isn't yet over. We are on pace to exceed the record of 10 million acres burned back in 2006, and that is not a record we want to break. Our rural communities, public lands, and the environment are being destroyed through neglect. The habitat is gone, erosion into our lakes and waterways goes unchecked, and the people's asset, the value of the trees, is wasted. In light of Forest Service surveys finding that over 12 million Sierra Nevada trees have died in the last year, we cannot afford to wait another year. That is why we need Mr. Westerman's bill, H.R. 2647, which will return active management to our forests by increasing flexibility, cutting red tape, and, most importantly, acting to manage forests before fires occur, not afterwards.…”