On the recordOctober 25, 2011
Last week, instead of making campaign bus stops and touting more stimulus spending, President Obama may have been better served coming to Rhinelander, Wisconsin, for a conference on jobs in the timber industry. At the conference, Representatives Cravaack, Duffy, Ribble, and myself, along with Chief Tidwell of the U.S. Forest Service, met with loggers, mill operators, and forestry experts. And the consensus was clear: Bureaucratic roadblocks and lack of direction are preventing the responsible harvest of Federal timberlands and killing jobs. Mr. Speaker, this is not about clear-cutting our Nation's forests. Responsible timber harvests make for healthier forests. They also create real jobs and grow the economy. As it stands, timber in the forests of the Great Lakes and across America is literally rotting on the stump and the Federal Government's bureaucratic snares are allowing it to happen. This cannot continue. It is time President Obama and Congress recognize that the simplest and quickest way to create jobs is to release the handcuffs of overregulation and red tape. ____________________
