Louise Slaughter: “The bill provides $19.8 billion in new discretionary spending authority for the Department of the Interior and related…”

“The bill provides $19.8 billion in new discretionary spending authority for the Department of the Interior and related agencies. This is $546 million more than last year, and almost $900 million more than the President's budget request. Moreover, the committee provided an additional $700 million to fight the western wildfires as emergency FY 2002 spending. For the communities fighting these fires and for all who are still recovering from the devastation these fires have wrought, this is welcome news. Communities in Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and other parts of the West need to know that Washington has not turned a blind eye to their very real pain.”