Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to H.R. 2647, the so-called Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2015. Before I address the many concerns with the underlying bill, I must commend my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. They have finally taken a step toward addressing the 600-pound gorilla, that is, the enormous cost and impact of fire borrowing under the Forest Service budget. I offered an amendment at a committee markup that would have required Congress to address the issue of fire borrowing before this bill could take effect, and we have been calling on House Republicans to address the issue for years. My amendment was rejected, but I am glad it encouraged the sponsors of this legislation to address the cost of wildfires. The newly added title IX is not a perfect solution, however. By amending the Stafford Act to include wildfires under the definition of natural disasters, this section creates a mechanism to address the very disastrous practice of fire borrowing. There is a small hitch, nevertheless. Congress would still have to fund this new disaster relief fund, similar to the process for funding recovery from Superstorm Sandy, which did not go smoothly, to say the least. While this might be a positive step, it does not make H.R. 2647 a good bill.…”