Hearing of Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Nominatons of Jeffrey Clay Sell to be Deputy Secretary of Dept of Energy and ..

Hearing of Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Nominatons of Jeffrey Clay Sell to be Deputy Secretary of
Dept of Energy and Patricia Lynn Scarlett to be Deputy Secretary of Dept of Interior

STATEMENT OF HON. RON WYDEN, U.S. SENATOR FROM OREGON

Senator Wyden. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And you've made an excellent statement, and I certainly agree with all of the key points that you've made, and have only a couple of additions. And, like you said, this has really produced a revolution in
forest-dependent communities. If anybody had said, 5, 6 years ago, that the administration, the Forest County Schools
Coalition, and the Wilderness Society would all be here talking about this reauthorization, I think we would have said, ``That
is one band of brothers you would not have suspected coming into being.'' I think it's really a tribute to all--your patience, Mr. Chairman, and others who have worked to make this coalition possible.

I'm going to be in and out a bit this morning, but I would just like to make one point, in terms of the timetable, and--
with you here, Mr. Chairman, and, of course, our ranking minority member who's been so helpful.

My concern is that the budget is going to be marked up in the committee starting tomorrow and Thursday. Now, if the
Secure Rural Schools legislation is in the budget, then all is hunky dory and we can certainly say we're off to the races in a
promising way. If Secure Rural Schools is not in the budget, however, then I'm going to have to try, at least in an effort
to get it started, to come up with a way to get it in and to start coming up with the offsets.

I would hope, this morning, that we could get a commitment, particularly from Mr. Rey, who has just been so helpful and so
constructive in all of this, that we work through this the rest of the day and into the evening to nail down how we ought to
proceed. I would very much like to have Senator Domenici's staff there, Senator Bingaman's staff there, Senator Craig's
staff, and my staff there, so we can examine essentially where we are, given the budget situation.

If it's in the budget, as I say, we're off to the races. If it's not, I think it would be extremely important for the four
of us--our chair, our ranking minority member, Senator Craig, and myself, and there may be other interested Senators; and
Frank, if you and Sarah can put the word out as well, there are other interested Senators. I just think it is important, as we
go into the afternoon and evening, that we know where we are, in terms of the budgetary process.

And if Mr. Rey would, in his testimony, describe where we are; and if we're not in the budget, I would very much like the
Administration to say, this morning, ``We're on deck to work with the bipartisan group in this committee to try to figure
out how to proceed tomorrow and Thursday,'' because this is the first step in the long march, and an extremely important step.
Because if we don't get some sort of consensus on how to do it through the budget process, you just have more challenges down the road.

Other than that, Mr. Chairman, I think you have reflected my views very well. And I want to thank, particularly, Senator
Bingaman and Senator Domenici for all their patience, lo these many years, and also Mr. Rey, as well, because he probably
knows more about this than anyone on the planet, save Sarah and Frank. We very much need to keep this bipartisan effort going as we go forward over the next couple of days.

And I thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Senator Wyden. Well, thank you both, Mr. Kearney and Mr. Rey, and I appreciate all the constructive help in all of this.
I want to think about that last suggestion you made, Mr. Rey, but it certainly sounds sensible to me, I mean, in terms of how
we make sure that we get the most value for the dollar. So we'll definitely work with you on it.

What I do want to talk about, though, is the next 60 hours, in terms of this program, because I think the next 60 hours--
and I know Senator Smith has a great interest in this, as well--the next 60 hours for this program are a big deal, because, between now and probably very late on Thursday night, that's when the budget is going to play out. And if we don't get this program in there, everything else is, sort of, uphill. There are certainly ways to do it, but it becomes much harder.

What can you tell us, in terms of where we are right now, and particularly--what I'd like to do with my 5 minutes is I'd
like your pledge today to say that you will work with the interested Members of this committee--and you've already got
four of them here, and Senator Domenici and others--starting this afternoon, through the end of the budget process, so that
we nail down these offsets. Because this is a program that works, and it would be, I think, a terrible thing to lose this
because there's a fight about the offsets. The offsets, of course, are a big deal. I can think of a lot of offsets that
Republicans would hate, and a lot of offsets the Democrats would hate. I don't want to see that be where this program
goes.

So, tell us where we are. And, particularly, can we have your pledge to work with the interested members of this
committee, the chairs and the ranking members, both committee and subcommittee, and Senator Smith and others who are
interested in this, so we can make sure the next 60 hours gets used well?

Mr. Rey. Well, on the latter question first, of course you have our pledge. That's what we indicated in our testimony,
that we would work with the committee to find offsets. In terms of where we are, I'm, I guess, at the same
disadvantage that everyone else is, that I haven't seen the draft work product that the chair of the Budget Committee will
shortly produce.

Senator Wyden. What does the chair tell you about this program and any offsets?

Mr. Rey. In our proposal, the program is partially offset already. The 2006 expenditures are already offset, since they
are included in the budget baseline from previous years. And, as I understand it, the BLM portion of the program is also
offset. So the ``find,'' if you will, is somewhat smaller than the entirety of the program. We're talking about finding
offsets for the Forest Service component of the program for fiscal year 2007 and beyond, which is a little more than half
of what the cost of the program is, if I recall correctly.

I have not had any recent communications with the Budget committee. That is to say, within the last week or so. I
understand, from communications prior to that time, that there was considerable support among some of the Members of the
Budget committee for making sure that this program carried forward.

Senator Wyden. How do you think that we ought to tackle this? Do you have some ideas for additional offsets?

Mr. Rey. I have a couple, but I'd prefer to wait and see what the chairman's mark looks like, as it's developed, to see
what kinds of offsets they have in mind.

Senator Wyden. Who do you want us to work with at the Forest Service so that when I bring the tuna fish and we're
sitting there over the next 60 hours trying to work this out, we know who we ought to be dealing with?

Mr. Rey. It would be either myself or Dave Tenny, my assistant.

Senator Wyden. Okay. And you've already basically said it, you'll give us the time we need, starting this afternoon,
tonight, and through tomorrow and Thursday, so we can get this done.

Mr. Rey. Correct.

Senator Wyden. All right. I appreciate it. I may have some additional questions for you all, for the record. And Senator
Bingaman has brought up issues I know he feels strongly about, and I want to work closely with him. Senator Smith is here. We have seen the value of this program; and out in Oregon people are talking who basically wouldn't show up in a room together, as a result of this law. So let's use our time this week to get this program off to a good start.

Thank you, again, for all the cooperation you've shown us. This is a textbook case of how it ought to work, and we look
forward to getting this done.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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