{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=FF3B91BF-45C0-4B34-857C-1B161EA28306", "McCAIN & FLAKE APPLAUD FY2018 INTERIOR APPROPRIATIONS WILDFIRE FUNDING PROPOSAL", "2017-11-30", "2017", "2017-11", "Republican", "House", "AZ", "John McCain", "M000303", "www.mccain.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. \u00ad\u2013 U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) this week applauded a provision in legislation proposed by the Senate Appropriations Committee that would boost federal resources for wildfires.\r\nThe provision in the Senate Appropriations Committee\u2019s Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2018 would take an important step forward in ending chronic shortfalls in the Forest Service\u2019s wildfire suppression budget. This year, the government spent a record-breaking $2.9 billion fighting wildfires, while Congress only appropriated $5 billion for the entire Forest Service budget. The resulting funding imbalance forces the Forest Service to cannibalize non-wildfire programs such as recreation, trail maintenance, and wildlife conservation \u2013 an increasingly common practice known as \u201cfire-borrowing.\u201d\u00a0Today, more than 55 percent of the agency budget is devoted to wildfire suppression compared to 15 percent in the 1990\u2019s.\r\nThe provision would ensure that the Forest Service receives 100% of the funds it needs for wildfire suppression based on a 10-year average. The provision would also allow the Forest Service to tap supplemental emergency wildfire accounts using a more accurate wildfire budget predicator known as the FLAME forecast model. The bill\u2019s funding structure is similar to legislation introduced in 2015 by Senators McCain, Flake and Barrasso, known as the FLAME Act Amendments.\u00a0By appropriating emergency wildfire funding up front \u2013 rather than at the end \u2013 of a wildfire season, Congress can help prevent Forest Service fire-borrowing with increased certainty.\r\n\u201cThe Senate Appropriations Committee has taken a positive step forward in addressing the Forest Service\u2019s fire borrowing issue,\u201d said Senator McCain.\u00a0\u201cIn addition to funding wildfire suppression, the long-term solution to reducing wildfire risk is prevention through industry-driven sustainable forestry.\u00a0More than 20 percent of the pine forests in Arizona have been consumed by wildfire, which is reason enough to make forest ecosystem restoration a top priority at the Forest Service.\u201d\r\n\u201cAfter working for years to pass the FLAME Act Amendments, it\u2019s encouraging to see the Interior Appropriations Committee put forward a like-minded, fiscally-responsible solution to fire-borrowing,\u201d said Senator Flake.\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=FF3B91BF-45C0-4B34-857C-1B161EA28306"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 3.212747862562537, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}