An old forester in my district summed up the problem we are here to assess when he said, "The excess timber is going to come out of the forest one way or another. Either it will be carried out or it will be burned out. But it will come out." A generation ago, we carried it out and the result was a thriving economy and a healthy forest. But in the last twenty years, a radical and retrograde ideology has replaced sound forest management practices with what I can only describe as a policy of benign neglect.

The good news about our economy is that it hasn't been struck down by some mysterious act of God. Acts of Government plague our nation -- and acts of Government are entirely within our power to change.

The delisting of MEK as a terrorist organization recognizes the crucial role it is playing in opposition to the fascist regime of Iran. It is long overdue.