Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), A Farm Bill Conferee, OnForest Management Provisions In The Farm Bill, And The California Wildfires
Leahy: “It is outrageous that House Republicans and the Trump Administration are continuing to hold up the Farm Bill negotiations over harmful and extreme forestry provisions. Secretaries Perdue and Zinke shockingly are tryingto co-opt the terrible tragedies in California to push for the Trump Administration’s crass, cynical and unaccountable logging of the public’s national forests.
“Both have failed to mention that Congress, in March of this year, a mere eight months ago, already provided both of their agencies with historic fire prevention toolsthat the Appropriations Committee enacted as part of the bipartisan Fiscal Year 2018 Omnibus Appropriations Act. That bipartisan bill already cleared the way for them to perform expedited forest management practices and fuels reduction work on wildfire-prone forests.
“Insteadof pushing for these extremely partisan provisions on behalf a small minority in the timber lobby, House Republicans and the Administration should be joining the Senate Farm Bill conferees to discuss bipartisan forestry solutions. That is how the Forestry Title has always worked, going back to the very first one I authored in the 1990 Farm Bill.
“I strongly urge Secretary Perdue and Secretary Zinke tostart using the new fire prevention tools already at their disposal, instead of holding baseless press conferences to rake and stir up the coals of this ongoing tragedy to try to push for additional extreme logging authority.”
[Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is the longest serving member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and served as its Chairman when the 1990 Farm Bill included the first ever forestry title, which implemented the most significant revision of national forestry laws the country had seen in 14 years. Leahy also is the Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.]