Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I would like to echo some of those comments because I am also in the West, in Washington State, and we are seeing the risk of catastrophic wildfires increasing every year. Because all of this is being done under the guise of DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, let me be clear that we all want our tax dollars to be spent wisely. Let me also be clear that the people in the Eighth District of Washington State think it is a super wise investment to invest in our Forest Service that will thin the forest, prevent catastrophic wildfires, and then fight catastrophic wildfires when they occur. I would say, and my constituents would also say because we all choke on smoke every summer, that this is not a time to cut the Forest Service. In fact, it is a time to hire up at the Forest Service because we need them more than ever right now. We need them for fighting fires as I discussed, for maintaining our forests, but also for supporting recreation, maintaining roads and trails, and producing timber that we all need for affordable housing, and for water restoration, watershed restoration, and more. We have heard from the administration that firefighters were exempt from the cuts, but here is the thing: About 75 percent of the people who were cut had firefighting training.…”