Ron Wyden

I appreciate the leadership, energy and effort that went into developing this legislation.

The subcommittee will come to order. The purpose of today's hearing is to receive testimony on several bills pending before the subcommittee.

American taxpayers in communities incur punishing costs when our forests are not healthy.

This legislation that I introduced will get saw logs to Oregon mills, help get our forests healthy again and protect our treasured old growth forests and watersheds in the eastern part of our State.

Unhealthy forests end up inflicting huge costs onto communities.

The establishment of an Indian Youth Service Corps is a vitally important step towards reconnecting future generations with their lands and cultures.

The Department also supports Senate Bill 607, the Cathedral Rock and Horse Heaven Wilderness, which provides for a series of land exchange along the John Day River in Oregon and seeks to eventually designate those lands and adjacent public…

It is good to have my old seatmate from this committee here.

I hope that you will do more than work with just the President's task force because I think that is constructive.

The ball is in your court to do this in a hurry.

Those tools include the creation of organic legislation by the U.S. Congress for this agency.

I have come to the conclusion they are legitimate.

Isn't acceptable to me.

I think business as usual is unacceptable.

When members of the public find out how their government is secretly interpreting the PATRIOT Act, they're going to insist on significant reforms.

I think most Members of Congress aren't aware of how it's being applied either, even though they're being asked to vote for it.

The American people are being kept in the dark about their government's interpretation of a major surveillance law.

I think secret law is an increasing, you know, problem in this country.

The government's official interpretation of the law should be public.

If the public thinks that the law is this, and the law ends up actually being that, that's a prescription for trouble.

The application of secret law is wrong, because that's what I'm raising in the letter.

I don't think our government ought to be able to write secret law.

I also believe that all intelligence activities have to be conducted within the boundaries of public law.

I think it is absolutely essential to protect the operations and methods that are employed day in, day out by the courageous people who serve us in the intelligence community.

I just do not think this is going to get done unless the committee goes forward in a bipartisan kind of fashion.