Barbara Boxer: “Now, if we pass this amendment, we are coming up with a stronger bill because it is just common sense that the real…”

“Now, if we pass this amendment, we are coming up with a stronger bill because it is just common sense that the real purpose behind this bill should be protection of our people. That is the real purpose. It should not be to make it easier for big loggers to go deep into the forest and take out old-growth trees. I know we protect them in here but not as far as I would want to. The real purpose of this should be to protect our communities. As I said, the House-passed bill certainly did not do that. We will hear a lot of talk from the House side, and I encourage my colleagues, Senator Cochran, Senator Wyden, Senator Feinstein, Senator Crapo, and the others to stand strong for the Senate bill because the House bill would do nothing--I say this sincerely--to help us. It would not have helped in our circumstance. I will explain why. The House bill fails to emphasize and prioritize removal of flammable vegetation. This is chaparral. This is not what the House bill deals with. The House bill deals with trees. It also does not allow for projects on non-Federal land where many areas are burning. I don't have the exact stats, but we are looking at maybe 50-50 here on Federal land and non-Federal land. Clearly, if we just have a bill that focuses on Federal land, we are missing a lot of other land and our communities could burn. The bill Senator Wyden, Senator Feinstein, and Senator Cochran worked on does not have that prohibition.”