{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://labrador.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=49&itemid=1123", "Labrador Calls on Congress to Restore Forest Health, Combat Catastrophic Wildfires", "2017-09-06", "2017", "2017-09", "Republican", "House", "ID", "Ra\u00fal Labrador", "L000573", "labrador.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0FOR MORE INFORMATION: \r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\tWednesday | September 6, 2017\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Todd Winer \u2013 202.495.8546\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Dan Popkey \u2013 208.800.1565\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t  \r\n\tLABRADOR CALLS ON CONGRESS TO RESTORE FOREST HEALTH, COMBAT CATASTROPIC WILDFIRES \r\n\r\n\t\u00a0\u00a0Northwest fires require swift action \r\n\r\n\tWASHINGTON, D.C.\u00a0\u2013 With massive wildfires prompting emergency declarations across the West, Rep. Ra\u00fal Labrador called for a House vote on a sweeping bipartisan bill to improve forest health, combat catastrophic fires and restore sensible multiple-use management.\r\n\r\n\tIn June the House Natural Resources Committee approved the Resilient Federal Forests Act, H.R. 2936, but the bill has yet to be scheduled for a floor vote. Labrador, R-Idaho, is member of the Committee and an original cosponsor of the bill, authored by Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark. The bill passed the House in 2016, but wasn\u2019t taken up in the Senate.\r\n\r\n\t\u201cPublic health is at risk because of congressional inaction,\u201d Labrador said Wednesday. \u201cThe tragedy is we\u2019ve had ample warning that federal forest management practices are failing. Once again, we\u2019re seeing the consequences in damage to our forests, water, wildlife and communities across the West.\u201d\r\n\r\n\tGovernors in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana and California have declared states of emergency as wildfires have consumed nearly 8 million acres this summer. In Idaho, air quality has reached very unhealthy and even hazardous levels, forcing students inside for recess and cancellation of high school athletic practices this week. Saturday\u2019s football game between Boise State and Washington State could be postponed if air quality doesn\u2019t improve. On Tuesday, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality issued a statewide air quality alert banning all open burning \u2013 the first statewide ban since August 2015.\r\n\r\n\t\u201cDespite the lessons of 2015, when we saw a record 10.1 million acres burn, the Senate failed to take up the House-passed Resilient Federal Forests Act,\u201d Labrador said.\u00a0\r\n\r\n\t\u201cThese fires should be treated like all other natural disasters requiring swift action,\u201d Labrador continued. \u201cThe legislation is the product of years of work in the Natural Resources Committee, and provides immediate solutions to combat wildfires, remove dangerous fuels, replant burned forests, restore multiple-use management and reform how we pay for firefighting. It\u2019s high time Congress steps up to protect public resources as well as lives and property before the 2018 fire season.Failure to act simply guarantees higher risk of catastrophicfires.\u201d\r\n\r\n\tThe Forest Service says 30 percent of its land, about 58 million acres, is at high risk or very high risk of severe wildfire -- an area larger than Idaho. In the past 20 years, 349 people have died because of wildfires and in the past decade about 37,000 structures have been destroyed.\r\n\r\n\tThe Resilient Federal Forests Act simplifies procedural requirements and reduces planning times, while continuing to protect the environment. The bill provides incentives for collaboration, creates a pilot program to use binding arbitration to resolve legal challenges and accelerates habitat improvement for wildlife.\r\n\r\n\tCurrently 40 percent of Forest Service staff time is spent on planning, while more than 40 percent of lawsuits against the Forest Service are aimed at blocking active management. The average Environmental Impact Statement now takes more than 4 \u00bd years to complete.\r\n\r\n\tFor more on the bill, click 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": ["http://labrador.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=49&itemid=1123"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.878369901329279, "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"}