On the recordDecember 18, 2010
I want to talk a little bit about the omnibus bill that was pulled down 2 nights ago because there were not the votes from across the aisle to get the bill moving. In that omnibus bill, there was a number of very important projects for every State in the Union. But there were a lot of very important projects for the State of Montana in that bill that I am afraid now will be put on the back burner. Nonetheless, there was also some very important language in the omnibus bill. In my particular case, there was language in that bill that was going to help put people back to work, and that language was contained in a bill we call the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act. What this bill does is create 660,000 acres of new wilderness. It creates 370,000 permanent acres in new recreation areas. It requires forest restoration and logging of 100,000 acres over 15 years. It is important in Montana for several reasons. The first reason is, we have been attacked by beetles, the bark beetles that have killed a large percentage of our forests, and we need to give the Forest Service the tools they need to be able to treat that. The second thing is that in the western part of Montana the economy has been hurt pretty badly. The unemployment rate there is the highest in our State. This bill will create jobs. Let me give you an example. Over the last year, in Montana, 1,700 jobs were lost in the wood products industry alone. This bill would help get those folks back to work.
