Federal Wildfire Budgeting System

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. I was down here on the floor last night talking about the need for actually getting some real progress to fix the mess that the wildfire budgeting system in our country has become.

I noted there have been several proposals offered, including one by myself and Senator Crapo called the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, referred to the Budget Committee. There have been hearings held. There have been speeches given about the need to fix the broken system to provide Federal agencies with the help they need to battle the devastating blazes year in and year out. Senator Crapo and I have introduced a bill to fix this broken system, and we need to get some real results.

In spite of all the talk, there hasn't been any real action. Twenty-four hours later and I am back, pleased to be able to stand here tonight to say several of our colleagues have heeded my call, and tomorrow I will be putting into the Congressional Record a colloquy with all of our signatures--Democrats and Republicans--committed to resolving this issue in the fall. We have been working since last night to set aside a way to work together this summer, with the fires in the West literally fueling the hunger to take meaningful steps this fall, to finally end fire borrowing, and to ensure that Federal agencies have the resources they need to prevent these infernos from igniting in the first place.

Just today, the Forest Service released a report that makes the very clear point that, for the first time in its history, the Forest Service is routinely spending more than half of its budget battling wildfires. They note that the cost of fire suppression could well increase to almost $1.8 billion by 2025. This vicious cycle of underfunding prevention work while huge infernos burn up Federal fire suppression accounts is going to get worse, and what we are going to see as it does is the Forest Service becoming the fire service. That is not in America's interest. It is particularly damaging to my part of the country.

I am pleased to be able to say that, in the last 24 hours, we have made some real progress in addressing this challenge. There is a commitment on both sides of the aisle now, here in the Senate, to get this fixed this fall.

(The remarks of Mr. WYDEN pertaining to the submission of S. Res. 246 are printed in today's RECORD under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')

Mr. WYDEN. I yield the floor.

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