MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Joe Neguse

Interview

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Joining us now is the Democratic Congressman Joe Neguse of Colorado. He`s a member of the House Select Committee on the climate crisis and the Co-Chair of the Congressional Bipartisan Wildfire Caucus.

Congressman, you and I have a lot of conversations. We`ve never talked about this one. And I guarantee there are a lot of Americans who do not know this. We only sadly hear the stories of these people when one of them parishes and we realize how brave they are and how they go across the country, chasing fires, dropping into fires, doing what they have to do to keep our forests from burning. The problem that`s not going away. And they are in $13.5 an hour.

REP. JOE NEGUSE (D-CO): Well, you`re precisely right. And good evening, Ali, and it`s great to be with you. Thanks for having me on.

Look, we are pushing our federal firefighting workforce to a breaking point and it has to change. I think the president is right when he talks about the need to ultimately ensure that these firefighters who are sacrificing so much on behalf of our communities, that ultimately they are well compensated.

And as wildfires grow across the west, they become more intense, they become more dangerous exacerbated, of course, by climate change as you know, federal firefighters are leaving behind their lives, their families for months at a time, working on average 16-hour daily shifts, as you said. In some cases, literally sleeping in the dirt with incredibly limited time off to reset and to reconnect with loved ones. These are highly skilled individuals and their vital services support literally every major wildfire response in the United States.

Ali, my district, I represent Northern Colorado, a district that`s larger than the State of New Jersey. Over 50 percent of it is federal public lands. And we had the first and largest wildfire in the history of Colorado - 137 years - both happened in my district last year. And we relied on these federal firefighters to ultimately protect our communities to save lives, to save homes, to save businesses, and to save our state. And we owe them this.

So I`m grateful to Liz Cheney and Katie Porter and my colleagues for joining me in this effort to ensure that we take these steps.

VELSHI: And you are all from states where this idea of climate crisis is very real for people. It`s not even a political distinction. They get it. This problem of wildfire is growing worse. NBC reporting more than 47,000 wildfires. 47,000 wildfires - not acres - wildfires have burned across the United States this year, destroying 6.5 million acres or 15.5 acres burned every minute. That`s according to Fire, Weather & Avalanche Center.

This is not going away, Congressman. So this problem about this almost informal firefighting source, the fact that we`re not really - we have not until now taken seriously these federal wildfire firefighters, our need for them is only going to grow at a time when we don`t pay them enough, we don`t give them enough support services.

NEGUSE: That`s exactly right. I mean, look, Colorado is no stranger to wildfire, historically. But the wildfires are becoming more intense, more pervasive. We no longer have fire seasons in the West. We have fire years, where literally you could have wildfires raging in January and in December. And those fires are ultimately here to stay.

It`s important when we talk about climate change, that we also talk about climate adaptation, which means making investments in wildfire resiliency and mitigation through programs like the Climate Conservation Corps, which we`re fighting for right now as part of the Build Back Better Plan with President Biden`s support.

But that we also invest in our workforce, because at the end of the day, we are going to rely on federal firefighters for many, many years to come and that`s why these steps such as bumping the annual salary by $20,000 to $57,000 annually as the floor, not the ceiling. And guaranteeing housing, guaranteeing health benefits, and mental health benefits are such important first steps in terms of investing in this workforce, as I said for many years to come.

VELSHI: Thank you for this work, sir. Good to see you as always. Joe Neguse is a Congressman from Colorado. We appreciate your time tonight.

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