On the recordJuly 8, 2015
As you can tell, due to the number of colleagues from both sides of the aisle speaking today, these are critically important issues we are considering, important to the economic well-being of our country, as well as to the health of our forest lands and the safety of rural communities. Reforming our education system and the way we combat wildfires and manage our forests is of the highest priority, and I urge my colleagues to support this rule, as well as both of the underlying bills. This rule provides for consideration of H.R. 2647, the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2015, a bipartisan, comprehensive bill aimed at expediting and improving forest management activities in Federal forests. This critical piece of legislation would address the disastrous consequences of catastrophic wildfire and would return resilience to our overgrown, fire-prone forests by dramatically improving the health of our Federal forests and rangelands. My district, as well as many other areas around the country, continue to face the threat of catastrophic wildfire, which is made worse by the continuing drought conditions and the poor management and maintenance of forests on our Federal lands. We must begin to take steps to prevent and address these fires, which this bill does by reforming the way we prepare, respond to, and fund wildfire response and mitigation efforts. Mr.…
