Political Quotes

“I wish to speak about an urgent challenge facing my constituents and my colleagues in the Pacific Northwest that unfortunately was ignored in this massive legislative mishmash we were asked to vote up or down on in the middle of the night: wildfires. Communities across the West, including my home State of Washington, are being torn apart by these disasters. Last year, the Diamond Creek fire burned 128,000 acres in my State. In 2016, the Okanogan Complex burned 305,000 acres. Just those two fires alone burned an area around two-thirds the size of Rhode Island, and both devastating events spewed ash and toxic smoke across a vast region and destroyed billions of dollars' worth of forest products. I am very concerned that these are not freak or rare, once-in-a- generation events. According to our best scientists, the killer combination of climate change and decades of inadequate forest management has made these monster infernos the new normal. The numbers speak for themselves. Ten thousand, that is the number of houses that have been burned down in wildfires last year. Eighteen billion, that is the initial estimate of how much damage wildfires caused just in California last year. Sadly, 54 Americans were killed by these wildfires in 2017. That is why I have spent years collaborating with other Senators from affected States to hammer out commonsense, bipartisan solutions to this increasingly urgent challenge.…”