John Barrasso: “I want to turn to a separate matter, and I think all of us are heartbroken by what we see happening in Los Angeles with…”

“I want to turn to a separate matter, and I think all of us are heartbroken by what we see happening in Los Angeles with the devastating fires. There has been a horrific loss of life, of homes, and businesses due to these California fires, and the loss is just staggering. As we speak, firefighters, first responders--including the Wyoming National Guard--are working around the clock to keep residents safe. I am grateful for their heroic efforts. As they do their job, we here in the Senate need to do ours, and there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. One of my biggest questions is: How do we prevent that next wildfire from happening? Well, when it comes to the environment, liberal politicians want to control what car we drive, what kind of stove we cook on, how long we can take in the shower. Yet they neglect our forests. They put up roadblocks to forest management tools that work. They have done that legislatively. They have done it with regulations as well. What is especially crazy is that these restrictions are made in the name of protecting the environment, an environment that they are hurting. Nothing could be worse for the environment than massive wildfires. And as a result, our public lands have turned into tinderboxes, and it is because of policies that we have seen come out of this body, this administration, Democrat administrations prior to that. And Wyoming is no stranger to wildfires.…”