George Miller: “I think what has become very clear is that we have to start curbing these financial abuses by the Forest Service. This…”

“I think what has become very clear is that we have to start curbing these financial abuses by the Forest Service. This amendment does that. That is why this amendment has the support of not only the environmental groups but almost all of the taxpayer organizations that look at these practices and ask the question, is the American public getting a fair bang for its dollar? Is the American public getting a return on its dollar invested, and is the law being followed in terms of what the public has an expectation of with respect to, in this case, reforestation programs? As we look at these programs from an environmental point of view, or as we look at these programs from a taxpayer point of view, they fall far short in their accountability to the public, and they fall short because of that lack of accountability in their obligations to the environmental charge of these funds under this law. That is why this amendment should be accepted by the committee and by the House. I plan to ask for a vote on this. This is a very high priority of both the taxpayer organizations and the Forest Service organizations. Again, many of us sat through these hearings and we were quite stunned at the extent to which the Forest Service accountability and financial controls have lapsed. We were also heartened, I think, by the fact that the Forest Service brought in professional financial managers to start to bring this back into control.”