Washington, D.C. - Today, Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee Peter DeFazio (D-OR), and Representatives Scott Peters (D-CA) and Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ) led Democratic efforts in the House to force a vote on a stalled bipartisan, bicameral bill that would treat extreme wildfires as disasters and end the need to borrow from fire prevention efforts to pay to fight fires. House Democrats are using a discharge petition to try and bypass Speaker Boehner and Republican leadership to allow a quick vote on the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act (H.R. 3992), introduced by Reps. Mike Simpson (R-ID) and Kurt Schrader (D-OR).
Democrats began to gather signatures on the petition this morning and need 218 signatures to bring the stalled legislation to the floor for an up or down vote.
“What is this Republican leadership doing? They are passing repeat legislation that will do nothing to help average Americans, wasting precious time while the bone-dry West goes up in flames. We requested multiple drought hearings-we were ignored. We asked them to consider this legislation-but they refused. So today, Democrats tried to force the Republican leadership to actually act. Our agencies are running out of money and we have a bipartisan, bicameral solution on the table. Unfortunately, the Republican leadership is content to allow funding to lapse while the West is on fire. They need to wake up and smell the smoke," said Rep. DeFazio.
“Wildfires, like earthquakes, are the natural disasters of the west; they happen just as suddenly, and their damage to homes, families, and communities, can be just as devastating," Rep. Peters said. “Currently, the federal government borrows money from wildfire prevention funds to pay to fight the catastrophic fires we currently face. That doesn’t make sense and needs to be fixed. With this petition, I am calling on the Speaker to bring this truly bipartisan bill, also supported by the President, to a vote immediately so that fire-prone regions like San Diego doesn’t suffer from Washington’s dysfunction."
"Arizona has a history of devastating wildfires, and it’s important that we learn from them and create smarter policies that protect our forests, citizens and firefighters. Prevention is a smart investment, and we saw that just last month in my district with the successful containment of the San Juan Fire in a region that previously went through treatments and forest thinning. I strongly urge my colleagues to pass The Wildfire Disaster Funding Act because it will make a difference in Arizona and across the nation," said Rep. Kirkpatrick.
The Wildfire Disaster Funding Act currently has 104 co-sponsors, including 52 Republicans. The legislation would end the cycle of fire-borrowing by treating catastrophic wildfires like similar major disasters such as floods and hurricanes. Under the bill, routine wildland firefighting costs, which make up about 70% of the cost of wildfire suppression, would be funded through a normal budgeting process. The true emergency fire events, which represent about 1% of wildland fires but eat up 30% of the budgeted funds, would be treated like similar major natural disasters.
The proposal would immediately free up as much as $412 million, which could be used for a variety of programs to reduce fire risk and remove hazardous fuels.
Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) are the original sponsors of the Senate legislation (S. 1875).
In April, House Natural Resource Committee Democrats released a report that shows that deep budget cuts have hindered efforts by the U.S. Forest Service (Service) and the Department of Interior (DOI) to fight catastrophic wildfires in the last few years. The report found that fire suppression funding for the Service was slashed nearly in half over the last few years, from $1.4 billion in FY2010 to $850 million in FY2012. These cuts have forced the Service and DOI to “borrow", or transfer funds, from other fire prevention and restoration programs to respond to the extreme wildfires of recent years and fill shortfalls in suppression funding.
The Forest Service in 2013 alone redirected more than $500 million to firefighting from other programs, while the Interior Department redirected more than $34 million.
In just 2013, the Service borrowed from many important programs, including the following:
* $183 million from Restoration of Forest Lands and Improvements;
* $40 million from the National Forest System;
* $30 million from Brush Disposal; and
* $30 million from Improvements and Maintenance.
The Wildfire Disaster Funding Act would fix the “fire-borrowing" issue.
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