Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chair, as I stated earlier, if forest health was about spending more money, then we would have the healthiest forests we have ever had, as my friends across the aisle interjected $12 billion into the Forest Service budget through the IRA and the IIJA, but their own goal of managing 6 million acres a year is going down--not going up but going down. It shows us that money is not the problem. On the subject of firefighter pay, I think we can agree that our firefighters need higher pay. That is why, in the appropriations bill on the Interior, we had an increase in firefighter pay. There was only one Democrat who voted for that bill on the House floor. Republicans have voted to increase the pay for firefighters, but again, it is not about money. If it was about money, then my colleagues would support this bill because the CBO has said this bill would actually save money. If we are not spending all this money fighting forest fires, we will be saving money coming out of the Treasury that we can spend on proactive things, like management. Again, it is about the policy. This is good policy. It is bipartisan policy. We have worked hard to try to make it that. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Newhouse), the chairman of the Western Caucus.”