Political Quotes

“I want to thank my friend from Florida for today's debate. The issue of proactive management of our Nation's Federal forests is critically important to the future and economic well-being of our whole country as well as to the health of our Federal lands and safety of our rural communities. Let me say that, if you have never been through a rural community that has had to face the devastation of a catastrophic fire, you are welcome to come to the State of Washington and see firsthand exactly the kind of damage that these fires can do. This is of the highest priority, and I urge all my colleagues to support this rule as well as the underlying bill in order to combat these catastrophic wildfires and reform the way in which we manage our forests. This rule provides for consideration of H.R. 2936, the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017. This is bipartisan, it is comprehensive, and it aims at addressing the disastrous consequences of catastrophic wildfires by utilizing the tools the Forest Service and other agencies have to reduce the threats posed by these fires, by insects, by disease infestation, and by dangerous old forest overgrowth. As I said, my district in central Washington and millions of acres across our great country continue to face this threat. We must take steps to prevent and address these fires, which this bill will do by reforming the way we prepare for, respond to, and fund wildfire response and mitigation efforts.…”