Barbara Boxer: “I am ready to go to battle toe to toe any day on this issue, and I am sure my colleagues would give me a fight on it. We…”

“I am ready to go to battle toe to toe any day on this issue, and I am sure my colleagues would give me a fight on it. We would have a vote and take our lumps if we lost and be very happy if we won. We have a situation where taxpayer property is being given away without 1 cent back to the Treasury. Here we have a situation where, instead of the Forest Service saying, OK, you can cut down a few of these trees, we need it for certain public purposes, they are out of the game. They give it to the logger, and the logger decides what tree to cut down. I think this is a stunning reversal of a program that started out to be one that was in the public interest. It is now a stewardship goal, if the Forest Service so states, to provide wood to lumber mills. That becomes a forest stewardship goal. It is unreal. Our people think we are protecting our forests, but our new goal is to invite the loggers in, with no limits on these projects. I am distraught and disturbed about this.”