It is no secret that those of us in the Northwest believe the Administration's proposal to drive up the cost of electricity in our region is not only misguided, but also will not achieve the intended goal of raising money for the treasury.

As the GAO report recognizes, the long-term health of our forests relies on additional fuel reduction options and funding to reduce the risks that catastrophic fire poses to our nation's ecosystems, communities and federal budgetary resources.

Removing substantial fuel loads from our forests helps prevent catastrophic fire and better protects species, watersheds and neighboring communities that call them home.

I am maintaining my schedule of commuting to Washington, D.C. each week from Oregon so that I can spend my weekends and days when we are not in session traveling to communities throughout my district.

My brother-in-law skipped work to get me to training. Our family get us through. We'd get the train, a bus and sometimes even walk to training.

I will always find something that I want to try and become better at. I always love to spend more time with my friends, more time with my family, my extended family. I always want to read more books.

I consider everybody I know to be my family.

The Arab Spring showed that people are not going to wait for an American president to make good on his big talk about democracy and human rights; they are going to fight for those rights themselves and overthrow pro-American dictators who stand in their way.