mr. chairman , i yield myself such time as i might consume . 
mr. chairman , established in 1907 by president theodore roosevelt , the tongass is our nation 's largest forest , about the size of west virginia . 
located along alaska 's southeastern coast , it is often referred to as america 's rain forest and is home to abundant wildlife , bald eagles , grizzly bears , wolves , and salmon , as well as old growth trees such as the giant sitka spruce , western hemlock , and yellow cedar . 
mr. chairman , each year the timber industry is subsidized by millions of tax dollars , taxpayer , hard working funding tax dollars for logging in the tongass national forest , approximately $ 850 million since 1982 . 
each year more taxpayer subsidized logging roads are built to extract the timber , and each year the road maintenance backlog gets more expensive . 
it is about $ 100 million right now . 
there are already about 5 , 000 miles of roads in the tongass . 
that is enough road to drive from washington , d.c . 
to los angeles and most of the way back . 
even the forest service acknowledges that existing roads are , quote , sufficient to satisfy local demand for road , recreation , subsistence , and community connectivity needs , unquote . 
mr. chairman , this is a simple , straightforward amendment . 
it would stop the forest service from constructing new logging roads at taxpayer expense . 
let me repeat that , at taxpayer expense , in the tongass . 
it does not prevent the timber industry from building their own roads . 
it does no prohibit the forest service from constructing roads needed for forest management , community connectivity , or for recreation . 
i know there are some who would have my colleagues believe differently , but this amendment has nothing to do with the roadless rule . 
it has everything to do with good government and fiscal responsibility . 
this amendment is not an attempt to take away jobs in alaska . 
in fact , between 1998 and 2004 , tongass-related jobs fell from over 1 , 500 to less than 300 . 
that means that taxpayers are subsidizing each existing timber job to the tune of about $ 163 , 000 per job , about four times the median u.s. household income . 
despite massive taxpayer subsidies , alaskan timber continues to decline . 
that said , this amendment does not stop timber companies from continuing to log off the roads that the american taxpayers have already built for them . 
in fact , the forest service has a 10-year supply of timber remaining off current roads . 
between 1998 and 2004 , half of tongass timber contracts went unsold . 
this means taxpayers spend millions of dollars for the forest service to build roads and plan sales to access timber they often can not even sell ; and those they do sell , they do so at below-market rates . 
in fact , the forest service is offering to let logging companies cancel contracts already sold because the companies do not want the timber . 
mr. chairman , i support logging in our national forests when it makes sense , when it is economically viable . 
i believe our forests should be actively managed so that they may be as healthy as possible ; but while we need to be good stewards of our forests , we must also be good stewards of the american people 's money . 
it is time to restore some common sense and fiscal discipline to the tongass timber program . 
i urge my colleagues to stand up for the american taxpayers and support this amendment . 
mr. chairman , i reserve the balance of my time . 
