Providing for Consider of Southeast Arizona Land Exchange Act, Restoring Health Forests for Health Communities Act, Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCLINTOCK. I thank the gentleman so much for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, listening to the debate on the other side, I think there's a misunderstanding on the nutrition bill. It doesn't cut people off from food stamps. What it does is simply ask that they either work, look for work, or train for work while they're receiving these benefits.

This is $80 billion a year. That's about $760 from the taxes of every average family in America. I think that they have a right as a condition of extending that aid to ask that those on it do everything they can to get off of it.

I am here today to rise particularly in strong support of H.R. 1526 that this rule also brings to the floor, the Healthy Forest Restoration Act.

I represent the communities of the Sierra Nevadas that have just been devastated by the Yosemite Rim fire that has incinerated some 400 square miles of forestland.

Federal environmental regulations have forced an 80 percent drop in timber harvests in this region over the past 30 years, despite urgent warnings from foresters that the excess timber would either be carried out or burned out. As the timber harvests have declined, the acreage burned has increased contemporaneously and proportionately. The great irony, of course, is that there is nothing more environmentally devastating to a forest than a forest fire.

In addition to reporting out H.R. 1526 that restores sound forest management practices in the future that will reduce or prevent such catastrophes in the future, the rule makes in order emergency amendments to deal with the aftermath of this fire.

An estimated 1 billion board feet of dead timber can be salvaged out of the forest if, and only if, we act soon. Within a year, the timber will become unsalvageable.

This measure sets aside the litigation that routinely delays these salvage sales until the timer

simple becomes worthless. This will mean a surge of employment in the mountain communities that have been devastated by this fire and a new stream of revenue for the Federal Government that would otherwise be lost.

I want to thank the Rules Committee for acting on this imperative, and I look forward to the debate and passage of the underlying legislation.

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