Political Quotes

“This has been, once again, a really catastrophic wildfire season. In fact, we saw the loss of lives of individuals who serve our country in the United States Forest Service, and so we certainly keep them and their family members in our thoughts and prayers. It is time that we address this issue in terms of the expansive fires that we have seen. The administration has been very vocal for the need to provide more funding to combat more wildfires and also stop more fire-borrowing from the Forest Service budget. As a matter of fact, there was a press release yesterday regarding the administration's letter to Congress addressing the budget issue. I agree there needs to be a solution, but fixing the budget is not the final solution. However, addressing the fire-borrowing will not solve the problem alone. Mr. Speaker, in 1995, fighting wildfires consumed one-sixth of the Forest Service budget. In 2015, this August, it is consuming one-half, 50 percent, of the Forest Service budget. We have to address, though, the root cause of this problem, which is not just warmer temperatures, but it is largely the fuel load, the fire load, from the lack of active management, insufficient active management, in our national forests. It is also very important that the Forest Service have the ability to expediently treat national forest acres for forest health and wildfire prevention. The Agriculture Committee passed through the House H.R. 2647.…”