Jim Kolbe

Mr. KOLBE

Mr. KOLBE. I yield to the gentleman from Oregon.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for his comments.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Hayworth].

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon [Mr. Cooley].

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, reserving the right to object, may I say to the gentleman from Oklahoma, we are really under a tight timetable. We have to get this bill done. I could certainly use an additional minute, but I feel constrained to object.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the very distinguished gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Regula], chairman of the subcommittee.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentlewoman from Florida [Mrs. Meek]. (Mrs. MEEK of Florida asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Taylor] for a quick response.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Washington [Mr. Nethercutt], a distinguished member of the subcommittee.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 30 seconds, before yielding to the next speaker, to correct a statement of the last speaker when he said that there was no requirement to follow the law. The law is fairly clear here that the Secretary has to prepare a document for each salvage sale that combines an environmental assessment under the NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act, and a biological evaluation under the Endangered Species Act. The Secretary must follow the law. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire how much time there is on both sides here?

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, notwithstanding my great respect for the gentleman from American Samoa, and notwithstanding the fact that this issue was debated and considered on last year's Interior appropriations bill, I do make a point of order against the amendment because it proposes to change existing law, and therefore constitutes legislation on an appropriation bill, which, of course, violates clause 2 of House Rule XXI. That rule states in part: ``No amendment to a general appropriation bill shall be in order if changing existing law. * * *'' This amendment would, first, give affirmative direction in its effect; second, impose additional duties on Cabinet and executive officials; third, modify existing powers and duties; fourth, does not apply solely to the appropriation under consideration; and fifth, it modifies existing law. For those reasons, I ask that the Chair give me a ruling on my point of order.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California [Mr. Riggs].

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order on the amendment.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment and would ask unanimous consent that I might yield 5 of the 10 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Yates], and that he may control that time.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Regula], the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, I would like to thank the gentleman for his comments, and I want to state under this motion that there have been comments made that there were no hearings on this salvage timber legislation. There were hearings in the authorizing committee. While there may not have been other hearings in the Committee on Appropriations, we debated this extensively in the subcommittee, we debated it extensively in the committee, we debated it extensively on the floor, and we debated it extensively in the conference. This issue has been thoroughly considered. I would also like to point out this does not affect green timber. This affects only 3 months; 3 months is the only thing affected here, from September to October, of the salvage timber. We have made plans and it is working the way it is supposed to work. It seems to me to be absolutely the wrong thing to do to try to take it away at this late stage for those final 3 months.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, we certainly would not have done this. We did have a time agreement. Since we added some time on this, there have been some requests for statements to be made on this. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Taylor], the gentleman in the subcommittee who is responsible for much of this last year.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the motion.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Idaho [Mrs. Chenoweth].

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire again about the time?

Mr. KOLBE

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, the majority, the chairman and vice chairman concede this point of order.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, speaking on behalf of the chairman of the subcommittee, as well as myself and, I think, the other members or many members of the subcommittee, that certainly is the intention.

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I believe I can speak for the chairman of the subcommittee in saying that the gentleman is correct in his statement. The Forest Service should undertake fuels management actions which are done in conjunction with larger management strategies, integrated into national forest plans, and which include treatments such as timber harvest and large-scale fire management planning. The Forest Service needs to integrate its fire management and fuels management activities into a coordinated effort to maximize forest health benefits, economic benefits and overall cost effectiveness.