The chair of the House Agriculture Committee Wednesday asked Senate Democrats to quit dragging their feet on appointing conferees for Healthy Forest talks. Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) says while California smoulders, the Democrats' stalling is blocking completion of legislation that has passed both Houses of Congress.

    "It puts the voice of a minority in the Senate, who have long stonewalled this process, ahead of a bipartisan majority of House members who supported the Healthy Forest legislation when it passed this May," Goodlatte said in a release.

    "It is time to put partisan politics aside so that we can bring forth a bill before the end of the session which can prevent future catastrophic forest fires like we have seen in California," Goodlatte said.

    Fires in California last month destroyed about 750,000 acres of forest and led to 22 deaths.

    Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) is leading the effort to stall consideration of the bill, Goodlatte said.

    Daschle says Democrats have been excluded from fair discussions in the conference committees for recent bills dealing with Medicare and the energy policy. The move seems to be an effort to put his foot down about such treatment.

    "We are going to insist on being full partners or we're not going to have a conference at all," Daschle was quoted as saying in the Washington Times yesterday.

    Proponents of the thinning legislation say the primary goal is to reduce fire danger and return forests and rangelands to a healthier state. Opponents say it is simply an effort to allow more logging on federal forestlands, kowtowing to timber interests