Political Quotes

“I want to thank my friend, Mr. Camp, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, for yielding me the time. Mr. Speaker, this jobs package includes important legislation, H.R. 1526, the Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act, which passed the House almost 1 year ago today. It is a long-term sustainable solution to put Americans back to work, restore forest health, and prevent wildfires. Our national forests, unless otherwise designated, should be open for multiple uses for everything from recreation to job-creating economic activities. Instead, Mr. Speaker, due to onerous Federal regulations and litigation, our Federal forests have increasingly been shut down. Mr. Speaker, timber harvests have dropped by 80 percent in the last 30 years. We have seen catastrophic wildfires destroy our Federal forests. We have seen loggers, mill workers, and truck drivers put out of work, and we have seen rural communities turned into ghost towns. It is long past time for the Senate to join with the House to provide better stewardship over our Federal forest lands. It is disappointing and, frankly, unacceptable that a year later the Senate is still sitting on the sidelines. Meanwhile, rural communities continue to suffer. This legislation requires responsible timber production on at least one half of the Federal Forest Service's non-environmentally sensitive timber lands.…”