Labrador Cosponsors Bill to Fix Wildfire Budget

Press Release

Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-ID) announced today that he is cosponsoring H.R. 3992, the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act. This legislation would provide a mechanism for fighting increasingly common catastrophic wildfires in the West, and especially in Idaho. Specifically, it would make common sense changes to the federal wildfire budget, ending the destructive cycle of robbing non-fire accounts in order to pay for wildfire suppression when costs exceed an agency's wildfire budget. In eight of the past ten years, the Forest Service has exceeded its budget for wildfire suppression, requiring the agency to "fire borrow" from other parts of its budget to cover wildfire suppression costs. H.R. 3992 would change the way wildfire suppression is funded, similar to the way the government funds other natural disasters like floods and hurricanes. This could lead to fewer wildfires in the future.

"We've seen too many catastrophic wildfires in Idaho," said Rep. Labrador, "and many of them would have been preventable if better policies had been in place. This legislation provides a viable solution to the mismanagement of Idaho forests that lead to catastrophic wildfires. The bill doesn't add a dime in federal spending; it simply ensures that discretionary funding is spent in the most effective way possible - managing forests in order to prevent wildfires, not on suppressing them. I'm pleased to cosponsor this smart, bipartisan bill, and I will work hard with the rest of the Idaho delegation to get it passed."

The Wildfire Disaster Funding Act was introduced by Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) and Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR). The Senate version of the bill, S. 1875, was authored by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR).

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