Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, in 2022, the world lost more than 16 million acres of forest, an area bigger than West Virginia. Deforestation accounted for about 10 percent of the world's annual greenhouse gas emissions and 40 percent of all tropical deforestation as a result of illegal clearing. Put another way, deforestation would rank as the third largest country in terms of overall carbon emissions, underscoring the need to address this problem as part of a global solution to the climate crisis. Nearly half of the tropical deforestation is estimated to be the result of just four commodities--beef, soy, palm oil, and wood products that drive this deforestation. The people who are engaged in illegal logging are some of the worst people on the face of the planet. They engage in bribery, theft, crimes against indigenous people whose rights are trampled on, or worse, actual violence directed against them. There is, of course, a solution: Deny people who grow crops on illegally forested land access to the American economy. There is precedent here, too. I had amendments to the Lacey Act focusing on disallowing illegally harvested timber to be imported to the United States. That earlier legislation was based on the success of the original Lacey Act that protected endangered species and wildlife. It is commonly accepted and simple to administer, although not always easy.…”