Mark Hatfield: “as part of the negotiations with the White House on appropriations for the remainder of Fiscal Year 1996, we have agreed…”

“as part of the negotiations with the White House on appropriations for the remainder of Fiscal Year 1996, we have agreed to eliminate language designed to make the so-called Salvage Rider more workable for the Administration. To my colleagues with whom I worked to fashion this language, let me say that I did not drop it willingly. I dropped it in the face of a direct and specific veto threat by the President. I continue to believe it is sound policy and makes many desirable changes to the original salvage law. This language would have given the Administration the authority, for any reason, to halt for 90 days the green tree sales released under Section 2001(k) of the law on which harvesting had not begun by March 28, 1996. During that 90 day period, the President would have been able to negotiate with contract holders to provide replacement timber or a cash buy out as a substitute for harvesting the original timber sale. Current law restricts the President's ability to enter into such agreements. The proposed language would also have lifted the completion deadline imposed by current law so that the owners of these sales would not have been rushed to harvest their timber before the deadline.”