{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.risch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2017/9/western-senators-secretary-of-ag-agree-wildfire-funding-must-be-fixed-now", "Western Senators, Secretary of Ag Agree: Wildfire Funding Must be Fixed Now", "2017-09-26", "2017", "2017-09", "Republican", "House", "ID", "Jim Risch", "R000584", "www.risch.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Crapo, Risch, Wyden, Bennet Attend Fire Briefing at USDA, Forest Service on Record Fire Spending Year\r\nWashington, D.C.\u00a0\u2013 A bipartisan group of western senators pushing for their legislation to fix \u201cfire borrowing\u201d heard strong evidence from Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and fire experts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service that Congress should pass their bill to end fire borrowing.\u00a0\r\nThe Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, introduced by Sens. Mike Crapo, Jim Risch, Ron Wyden, D-Ore. and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and five other bipartisan senators, would treat wildfires as natural disasters and stop the erosion of the Forest Service\u2019s budget by reforming the way the federal government funds wildfires.\u00a0The legislation would end \u201cfire borrowing,\u201d which has depleted funds intended for forest restoration, habitat programs, trail maintenance and fire prevention programs, such as thinning.\u00a0More than 250 private and public organizations have supported the legislation.\u00a0\r\nCrapo, Risch, Wyden Bennet attended a Washington, D.C. briefing today where the Forest Service announced all-time record spending of more than $2 billion to pay to fight this year\u2019s wildfires, which have destroyed significant parts of the West.\u00a0Once again, the senators noted, federal agencies have had to empty non-fire accounts of more than a half-billion dollars to pay for wildfires. More than 8.5 million acres have burned across the country this year \u2013 a 47 percent increase from the 10-year average of 5.8 million acres.\u00a0The emergency preparedness levels for fire are at the highest point in five years.\r\n\u201cWe already know in the West about the devastation of these wildfires on our habitat, our lungs, and on our heritage,\u201d Crapo said.\u00a0 \u201cHopefully, now our colleagues in the Senate will see the magnitude and immediacy of this problem and end this \u2018fire borrowing\u2019 so that we can focus on fire prevention and focus on saving lives, habitat and our favorite public lands places for the future.\u201d (Video enclosed below)\r\n\u201cWildfires are a catastrophic event just like an earthquake, hurricane, or tornado. But there is one very big difference \u2013 wildfires are at least partially preventable and almost fully manageable,\u201d Risch said. \u201cIf we set aside funds for wildfire prevention ahead of time, we can actually tamper down the destruction. This is what our legislation seeks to accomplish.\u201d\r\n\u201cMy colleagues and I heard the message loud and clear today from Sec. Perdue: the federal government cannot keep conducting \u2018business as usual\u2019 when it comes to fire funding,\u201d Wyden said. \u201cThis year\u2019s devastating fires underscore the urgency of this issue. Fixing this broken fire budgeting system is a bipartisan idea and has been from the start. We\u2019re calling on Congress to pass our bipartisan bill to end fire borrowing, stop the Forest Service from becoming the \u2018Fire Service\u2019 and start treating wildfires like the natural disasters they are.\u201d\r\n\u201cToday\u2019s briefing on the historical cost of this year\u2019s wildfire season emphasized the importance of changing the way we pay for fighting catastrophic fires,\u201d Bennet said. \u201cIt was good to hear from Secretary Perdue about the immediate need to end the penny wise, pound foolish practice of fire borrowing, ensuring the Forest Service can do its job to mitigate future fires. The opportunity to sit down with my colleagues and the Secretary to discuss the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act of 2017 is a testament to the bipartisan interest in passing this critical legislation.\u201d\r\nThe bipartisan Wildfire Disaster Funding Act would fund wildfires as natural disasters and protect the agencies\u2019 fire prevention budgets by putting a freeze on the rising budget costs of the 10-year average. It would end \u201cfire borrowing\u201d by allowing the agencies to fund any fire suppression spending needed above the frozen average through disaster funding just like other agencies can access disaster funding for tornadoes, hurricanes and floods.\u00a0It would also make room for wildfires in the disaster budget so other natural disasters would not have to \u201ccompete\u201d for disaster funds.\u00a0\r\nMaking disaster funding available after the appropriated fire suppression funding is spent would allow the Forest Service to use its fire prevention funding for its intended purpose \u2013 completing hazardous fuels reduction projects that have been shown to help break the cycle of increasingly dangerous and costly fires.\r\nSens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Cory Gardner, R-Colo., also cosponsored the bill.\u00a0\r\nFind bill text for the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act here.", 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.risch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2017/9/western-senators-secretary-of-ag-agree-wildfire-funding-must-be-fixed-now"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5567988157272339, "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"}