Ron Wyden

Thank you, Mr. Congdon. You make a number of very important points.

Thank you. We will be working closely with you. I can see that there are strong and differing views. That's our job is to find a way to bring folks together.

We're going to work closely with you and the tribe.

I call it a healthy forest can equal a healthy, you know, economy that I think is going to be very, very helpful for the agency in the years ahead.

If we lose that infrastructure it is lights out on much of the rural economy of my State.

It's an important one for the West.

We are going to be building on work that is already being done.

We're going to get your bill out of this committee and get it on the President's desk.

I strongly support your legislation. When we had our markup previously I spoke out in favor of it strongly.

I'm pleased to see the USDA's support.

We'll continue to work with you and see what we can do to get this worked out.

I believe the concerns are overblown.

If this bill doesn't pass--and soon--we, this Congress and this Administration, will have set up a system that will impoverish Southeast Alaska Natives and the region's economy as a whole for a long time.

The subcommittee will come to order.

Before she leaves the floor, I want to say to my seatmate on the Energy Committee, I am looking forward to working closely with her on a host of these issues. I think she is spot-on with respect to her concern about the independents. This…

The Act is a welcome initiative that would train and employ young men and women in natural resource projects.

We thank Senator Wyden for his leadership on this proposal, and offer our support of having this legislation signed into law.

We commend Senator Wyden for convening discussions and negotiations that resulted in this legislation.

I want you and the Secretary to know I'm going to work very closely with you to ensure those kinds of funds.

The Department appreciates the improvements made to this bill since the last Congress, has no objections to the conveyances and would like to continue to work with Senator Wyden and the committee on the bill.

I very much share your view.

Bringing both sides together to craft this bill means that it can bring success and in my view, help end the timber wars that have been so hard on my home state.

We believe that the bill introduced by Senator Wyden is very good and thoughtful bill.

We would like to work with Senator Wyden and the Committee to further address concerns related to Parcel A.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify. We look forward to working with Senator Wyden and the Committee to address the needs of La Pine, Oregon.