Gutting U.S. Forest Service Resources

Floor Speech

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Mr. VASQUEZ. Madam Speaker, today, I rise in opposition to this administration's plan to completely gut the U.S. Forest Service, move its headquarters to Utah, and shutter 57 research stations.

Our Ag Secretary said that her decision is guided by common sense, but, truly, it is a slap in the face to Teddy Roosevelt and those who carefully crafted the Forest Service as we know it.

I am a hunter, an angler, and someone who spends a lot of time in my national forests. I know my supervisors, my district rangers, and even the volunteer crews. As the cofounder of the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus, I don't see a shred of common sense in this decision.

What I do see is another backdoor move by this administration to push forward an anti-public lands agenda that discards career staff, under- resources our land agencies, and prioritizes corporations rather than focusing on combating wildfires, wildlife habitat, rural communities, and the growing outdoor recreation economy. We need more, not less, U.S. Forest Service resources and staff out West in places like New Mexico.

Madam Speaker, stripping resources from an agency that is already stretched thin and struggling to mitigate the impact of wildfires is the opposite of common sense. It is stupidity.

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