Denny Rehberg: “I am insulted by that. It is almost as if the tree did not burn in your district, there was no disaster. It happened…”

“I am insulted by that. It is almost as if the tree did not burn in your district, there was no disaster. It happened year after year after year in Montana. In 1988, I was surrounded by fires. It happens every year in the State of Montana. In the Year 2000, we burned 1 million acres. When are we going to wake up and say enough is enough? This legislation goes a long ways toward solving the problem. I remember 1988. I thought to myself, God, I hope now the legislature, the Congress, wakes up and understands that fire can be a tool if it is a prescribed burn, if it is a controlled fire. Grazing can be a tool. It not only controls the underbrush, but also controls weeds. We can have control within our forests, management controls within our forests. It does not have to be looked on as a bad thing. It is a good thing. It can keep our forests safe. To those preservationists who have tipped the scales of our justice system against doing the right thing, I tell them you are loving our forests to death. Do you like this? Because this is exactly the way the people of Montana feel with the forest fires coming in. I hope you will support this legislation.”