Small businesses are seeing huge rate increases every year, and more and more of them are saying they just can't afford to provide coverage. That's part of the reason more than 45 million Americans are now uninsured.

As a lifelong Oregonian, I prefer our forests green, not black.

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.

Operation Northern Star with Canada has made significant progress in battling meth from the north, and we are engaged in numerous training opportunities in Mexico to help curb the problem from the south.

Many individual growers now are growing organic fruit, and many are taking it upon themselves to market their own products to the public, as opposed to necessarily going through big processors, although, obviously, the bulk of the fruit still is dealt with that way.

In addition to hydropower, Oregon and the Northwest have pioneering companies leading the way in environmentally friendly energy technology.

It is up to us as lawmakers to provide the resources and streamlined processes that will enable our federal forest managers to become the best possible steward of our lands.