Earl Blumenauer: “I would like to take up where my good friend from Minnesota left off in terms of dealing with the money that is in this…”

“I would like to take up where my good friend from Minnesota left off in terms of dealing with the money that is in this legislation that would help us deal with the crisis that is occurring in our Nation's forests. One of the legacies, unfortunately, of the last Congress where we had a meltdown of the budget process is that these issues were left unresolved. We have eviscerated the budgets for the Department of the Interior, shifting money out of operating budgets for purposes of firefighting. This is going to help us move back in the right direction. One of the other casualties was the county payments program. In the last session, the implosion of the budget process where the Republican majority and the administration could not follow through, left 4,600 school districts across the west, including a number in my State in Oregon in a lurch. This legislation steps up and meets the needs. It is not extraneous. I sincerely hope the President changes his tune and withdraws his veto threat.”