Boehner & House Republicans Deliberately Fail to Address Wildfires

Boehner and House Republicans just do not get it. The United States is experiencing what may be one of the worst wildfire seasons in our history – and yet, earlier today, they blocked legislation which would've addressed this matter. In fact, they deliberately ignored calls from Governors representing western states who sent a letter to Mr. Boehner and Members of Congress, urging them for immediate action:

We are writing to you today to express our support of the federal Wildfire Disaster Funding Act (S. 1875 and H.R. 3992), which would provide the United States Forest Service with access to emergency funding for wildfire suppression costs. As is already being seen in this 2014 fire season, our States face similar wildfire problems that are exacerbated by the current drought. Already, the citizens of our states have been affected by hundreds of thousands of acres burned, and this will likely continue throughout the summer. Appropriate funding for the Federal fire agencies in order to protect other vital forest health programs is key to the protection of natural resources in our states.

Currently, the United States Forest Service does not have an Emergency Fund available to fund the cost of fighting wildfires. In the past two fiscal years, the United States Forest Service was forced to transfer more than $1 billion from other programs within the Agency to pay for fighting wildfires…these transfers affect nearly all United States Forest Service programs, which negatively impact program delivery and disrupt funding priorities set by Congress. Consequences of these funding transfers have resulted in halted work to stop the threat of invasive species, fewer forest owners receiving assistance to practice good stewardship, and interrupted National Forest restoration activities and active management work to reduce future fire risk.

H.R. 3992 and S. 1875 would enable the United States Forest Service and the Department of the Interior to fund excess wildfire suppression costs outside of the discretionary appropriations through a fire disaster cap. This legislation would have no effect on the federal budget because it would not authorize additional funding for wildfire suppression activities or appropriate funds for these purposes. Additionally, this would not affect direct spending or revenues.

…we respectfully urge your support…

Rather than planning to pass a measure suing the President right before the August recess, Boehner and House Republicans must get serious about approving this long overdue bipartisan legislation that will alleviate this monumental emergency.