Press Releases

Washington, D.C. (September 15, 2015) – Today the Obama Administration requested Congress change federal budget laws to address shortfalls in catastrophic wildfire funding.

In response Western Caucus Chairman Cynthia Lummis (WY-at large) issued the following statement:

“The Obama Administration has asked Congress to address catastrophic wildfire budgeting,” said Chairman Lummis. “But we need more than just budget reform to solve the underlying problem. We need a two-pronged solution that tackles both wildfire suppression and forest management, and that solution has already passed the House. Representative Westerman’s legislation fights fires before they even start by promoting healthier and more resilient forests. It also takes the long overdue step of treating catastrophic fires as federal natural disasters. The Administration’s vocal opposition to this legislation is ill-conceived. We owe it to the men and women fighting these fires, and the communities impacted across the nation, to use every tool at our disposal to promote healthy forests.”

The bipartisan Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2015 (H.R. 2647) introduced by Western Caucus Member Bruce Westerman (AR-04) would improve federal forest management practices by restoring fundamental land management capabilities to the U.S. Forest Service, such as routine thinning practices to improve forest health and reduce wildfire threats. The bill would also treat catastrophic wildfires as federally-recognized natural disasters.

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