Wyden slams administration over lack of wildfire aid

On the heels of the most expensive wildfire season on record, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., slammed the Trump administration Friday for failing to provide aid for communities in the West and across the country ravaged by wildfires this year.

The senator said the administration had committed to releasing a package in the coming weeks to help recovery efforts from 2017’s natural disasters, including major hurricanes and record-breaking wildfires. Yet the disaster aid request from the White House to Congress, released Friday, did not contain a widely supported, permanent wildfire funding fix, nor any additional aid for communities hit hard by the record-breaking fire year.

“It is unacceptable the White House fails to recognize the danger wildfires pose to western communities, essentially leaving us to continue fighting the West’s natural disasters on our own,” Wyden said. “Our communities are battling growing infernos and a broken wildfire budgeting system that shortchanges prevention funding in a destructive cycle that literally adds fuel to fires. If the White House refuses to offer aid to wildfire-stricken communities, it’s up to Congress to get off the backbench and put an end to fire borrowing, and this senseless cycle, for good.”

In a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney earlier this month, Wyden and Senate Democratic senators called on the administration to put forward a comprehensive disaster package to fix the government’s backwards system of wildfire funding and provide relief from the onslaught of natural disasters in recent months.

Wyden has repeatedly urged Congress and the Trump administration to pass the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, which he introduced with a bipartisan coalition of western senators to end fire borrowing and protect funding the Forest Service needs to do wildfire prevention and other forest management work. Their bill would allow the Forest Service to use funds from disaster funding to pay to fight remaining wildfires once the agency exceeds its appropriated fire suppression budget for the year.

The Wildfire Disaster Funding Act would also raise the budget cap for the disaster funding so wildfires wouldn’t siphon money away from recovery efforts or require other natural disasters to “compete” with wildfires for funding.

Meanwhile, Sens. Wyden and Jeff Merkley announced Friday they successfully included legislation to help train additional members of the National Guard to fight wildfires in a defense bill the Senate passed this week.

The senators worked to include their legislation, which facilitates training of more National Guard members for wildfire response, in a bill members from both houses of Congress negotiated. The provision is especially important in states like Oregon, hard-hit by this year’s record-breaking wildfire season, where wildfires have become so wide spread they are straining the state and U.S. Forest Service’s abilities to cover all active fires.

“Battling devastating wildfires across the West year after year takes everything we’ve got and more,” Wyden said. “I’m proud to have included legislation in the defense bill deal that will encourage the military to train more Guard members on how to protect people, homes and businesses on the front lines of these deadly infernos.”

“We know already that the men and women of the National Guard are brave, disciplined, and committed to protecting our communities,” Merkley said. “Using those existing talents to supplement fire suppression efforts during bad fire seasons just makes sense. I’m pleased that we will be able to get National Guard servicemembers trained up early, and put more boots on the ground fighting these huge fires more quickly.”

In September, their amendment was included in the Senate’s version of the defense bill, which authorizes national defense programs for the next fiscal year. Wyden and Merkley opposed the overall bill due to increases in military spending, both on and off budget, with little accountability.

The conferenced bill passed the Senate this week by a voice vote and now goes to the president for signature.