On the recordOctober 3, 2017
I would like to thank the gentleman from Arizona, my good friend, Mr. Gosar, for holding this Special Order and for giving us the opportunity not only to address the House on this very important issue, but also to address our Nation. Mr. Speaker, this year alone, over 8 million acres have burned across our country. And get this: ten times that, another 80 million acres, are considered high risk to threat of catastrophic wildfires. If this doesn't amount to a national disaster, nothing does. If we don't acknowledge that it does, this will only continue to devastate our rural communities across the Nation. The previous speaker, my friend from Oregon, talked about the impact of the health to people living in these communities. I could attest to you myself, living in central Washington, we had smoke where the visibility was less than a quarter of a mile for weeks at a time. I knew people who had chronic coughs as a result of this smoke. Myself, get this: I had to come back to our Nation's Capital for my cough to clear up over our August break. The air was that bad. So, Mr.…
