Angie Craig: “as a Senator frustrated by this situation, I rise today to respond to comments made by my colleague from New Mexico, Mr.…”

“as a Senator frustrated by this situation, I rise today to respond to comments made by my colleague from New Mexico, Mr. Bingaman, regarding the Healthy Forest Restoration Act, H.R. 1904. I appreciate Mr. Bingaman's attention to this issue and look forward to future discussions with him on this issue. However, I am perplexed and troubled by some of my colleague's statements and feel it is important to include some additional information for the Record. First, on June 26, the Agriculture Committee held a hearing on H.R. 1904 and many of our colleagues, including myself, took the time to attend the hearing, listen to the testimony, and participate in the discussions. Mr. Bingaman could have done the same, but chose not to. In the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, we then held a hearing on July 22. The purpose of this hearing was to examine the impacts of fires, insects and disease on forest lands. And we looked at processes for implementing hazardous fuels reduction projects more expeditiously.”