Jeff Merkley

It is an incredible national parks system, but it only works if we have people staffing it.

One of the goals was to develop a program that would provide labeling so you have pollinator safe according to certain standards.

They need to be put at the top of the list for consideration of being labeled as endangered.

This is kind of a last ditch five alarm fire

I think if I had a magic wand, I would, you know, throw a couple more billion dollars into these key ecosystems that are threatened.

Do you like that term, tribal sovereignty fees?

I want to emphasize that word, 'required'.

Boosting the boots on the ground, if you will, across Indian country seems to be a central tenet of this request.

The Tribal Law and Order Act report shows an unmet need of $3.5 billion for public safety.

I advocated for and we included in last year's funding bill $7 million for startup funding for the Department to begin consultations with tribes.

Your position as the first Native American Cabinet Secretary is historic.

We must recognize as a Congress that non-defense funding is just as important as defense spending.

Thank you, Senator. You timed it just perfectly.

I think it would be very significant to the tribe.

I think it is actually something that you would have the power to do without legislation.

Somehow the prospect of working for the Forest Service while you live in your car is not such an entertaining one.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure and Inflation Reduction Act provided for investment in high-risk firesheds.

The primary reason that I have been hearing, personally from firefighters, is the pay gap.

We can no longer view these villains as natural disasters, what they really are, are human-caused unnatural disasters.

All three provide transformative investment.

Everywhere I go in Oregon I hear people say: Let us do everything we can to make the forest more resilient.

We need to double down on other forest management activities critical to forest resilience and forest health.

I feel strongly that if we want to build a safer, more competitive country, we can't give up on the need to invest right here at home.

We found the three C's, if you will. We found the cartels. We found the corruption, and we found the climate change.