05/05/2010
https://www.congress.gov...
"We know since the 1990s the amount of money for suppression has gone from about $1 billion to $3 billion."
"we thought this was a great win-win not only for the Forest Service but the Coast Guard for equipment that is desperately needed."
"I was somewhat shocked when I got here and found out we were funding at about a 20-percent level or so."
"I hate to use the word, but 'surplus' planes from the military that we--who knows what they were going to do with them."