Political Quotes

“My amendment would reduce State and Private Forestry funding by a modest 10 percent, and it would transfer more than $20 million to the Spending Reduction Account. The State and Private Forestry funding sets aside money for international forestry, urban and community forestry, and supports more than 500 million acres of non-Federal forested lands. We are more than $14.3 trillion in debt, and we need to be cutting areas of our budget wherever possible. It is more than reasonable to request a reduction in this program because the Federal Government has no business giving a handout to private forestry landowners in the first place. This funding would be better managed by the State and local levels of government. We are broke, Mr. Chairman, as a Nation. We need to be doing what businesses do when they get overextended. They lower their borrowing level; they try to find out ways to pay off their debt, and then they start cutting expenses. This is a mere 10 percent cut. So I urge my colleagues to think about our massive debt, and I urge them to consider sending part of this program back to the State and local governments. I yield back the balance of my time.”