Jeff Bingaman: “I appreciate the good intent of my friend from Idaho in saying that this is something on which we ought to start working…”

“I appreciate the good intent of my friend from Idaho in saying that this is something on which we ought to start working or on which we ought to work. The reality is, this is our best chance. This legislation is likely to go to the President, likely to be signed into law in some form. If we don't take the opportunity this legislation presents to fix this problem, it will remain unfixed. We can have all of the assurances we want from the administration, but the reality is, the administration is under very severe budgetary restraints as it goes into this next year. We in Congress are under very severe budgetary restraints. Everyone around this place is going to be looking for ways to save money. That means that when it comes to actually providing the resources to fight fires, the course of least resistance is to do what we have always been doing, what President Bush has done in the last several years: Ask for way too little money for firefighting. And then, when it turns out that you need an extra billion dollars, tell the Forest Service to take it out of their other accounts.”