Barbara Boxer: “The House bill fails to focus the limited resources for wildfire prevention projects near at-risk communities where…”

“The House bill fails to focus the limited resources for wildfire prevention projects near at-risk communities where these resources are needed the most. We can see the communities right around here. Many are not that populated, but they are communities that would qualify in the underlying bill. In my amendment, more funds would go here. By not focusing its resources near at-risk communities, the House-passed bill keeps homes, businesses, and communities in this wildland/urban interface area in harm's way. In other words, where the beautiful wildlands meet the suburban-urban communities, that is where we have our problems. This is what we have been talking about. This is what Senator Leahy and I have been talking about and why we know we need more funding. By the way, we have much more funding in that bill. The bill before the Senate is a compromise. It is not enough. It is better, certainly, than where we are, and it is much better than the House bill which actually, to be honest, again, would do absolutely nothing, absolutely nothing to help us in this type of circumstance.”