Angie Craig: “what we are about to conclude tonight is a 3- to 4-year effort on the part of many folks of good will on both sides of…”

“what we are about to conclude tonight is a 3- to 4-year effort on the part of many folks of good will on both sides of the aisle to bring some modicum of change. This is not a giant leap forward. This is a cautious, careful step to assure that we can begin to address our forests that are overgrown, that are diseased, that are now caught up in the scenario of wildfire, as we see it playing itself out in southern California today. Without a doubt this is a national emergency and a national crisis. We are being asked to spend upwards of $1.2 billion a year of taxpayers' money simply to put the fires out, let alone the cleanup and the restoration and the saving of watersheds and wildlife habitat. So I would hope we could continue this process and monitor it closely. My last hope is that the work tonight can go to the President's desk, can become law, and we can say we, once again, have become reasonable and responsible stewards of our forested lands.”