David Thomas: “The business of timber and timber harvest is very important to my State. I rise in opposition to the amendment offered…”

“The business of timber and timber harvest is very important to my State. I rise in opposition to the amendment offered by the Senator from Nevada. I think the amendment is not about subsidies; it is about the elimination of the timber program in our national forests. The timber program is part of a healthy forest. Somehow there has to be some changes made in a forest that either burns or is harvested or is eaten by insects. This would terminate that kind of thing. Furthermore, this is a policy issue that I believe ought to be talked about in our committee of jurisdiction, ought to be talked about in the forest plan, not one that ought to be talked about here in terms of doing it on an appropriations bill. Let me just say, the Senator has suggested there are winners and winners. There are losers. Those losers happen to be schools, school districts, counties, small family businesses, and recreationists. This, I think, has been called a subsidy. It is actually not a subsidy. Purchaser credits are an accounting method used by the Forest Service.”