Political Quotes

“I must rise today to oppose this bill. For many of the reasons that my colleagues have indicated, it is fundamentally flawed. We have three wonderful national forests in Michigan. Yes, there are management issues that need to be addressed, but they can be addressed. They need to be addressed in ways that do not include the fundamental process under this bill. What we have here is a Forest Preservation and Recovery Act that authorizes money-making activities that could actually hurt the forests. Underneath all of today's discussion about forest health, land management, scientific panels of experts, and environmental stewardship is actually a money-generating provision that harbors the potential to do great harm to our forests. The philosophical assumption in the bill is that it is okay to cut down trees to save trees; and I believe that is wrong. In addition, by establishing an off-budget source of money, the incentives are even greater for the USDA and the Forest Service to seek revenue that is free of the appropriations process.”