Richard Pombo: “I know that our colleagues that are watching this debate who may not have invested as much time on these issues as those…”

“I know that our colleagues that are watching this debate who may not have invested as much time on these issues as those of us that are on the floor are probably really confused right now. Because I heard the gentleman from Washington give a very impassioned description of what we need in the process of doing forest planning and I believe an accurate description. If that is what the Udall amendment did, I would vote for it in a second; and I would get our guys to vote for it. Unfortunately, that has nothing to do with the amendment that is on the floor. The amendment on the floor is to take us back to an old, broken system and not move forward. What we are doing right now is what is wrong. It is the process that we currently have in place that has led us to an unmanaged forest that has resulted in catastrophic fire. It is the process that is in place right now that has led us into these endangered species fights. It is the process that is in place right now which has caused the problem. Why Members want to stay with that process instead of moving forward is beyond me.”