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Press Release

Westerman Statement on Biden's Idaho, California Forestry Tour

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 13, 2021 | Committee Press Office (202-225-2761)
  • NFPL Subcommittee

Today, President Joe Biden is visiting sites in Idaho and California to survey wildfire damage and learn more about forest management practices in the region. House Committee on Natural Resources Ranking Member Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) issued the following statement in response:

"It's ironic that just days after committee Democrats unanimously voted to keep meaningful forestry provisions out of their multi-trillion dollar spending bill, President Biden is set to visit the very places where forest management is most desperately needed. We can all agree that wildfires are horrific and should not be happening at their current scale and frequency. Yet when my Republican colleagues and I suggest scientifically-proven ways to mitigate them, we are met with silence and indifference. In the face of Democrat inaction, millions of acres of land, homes and critical wildlife habitat are going up in smoke. Talk is cheap; action is harder. We've got to start using commonsense practices on our nation's forests so we don't rinse and repeat the same cycle year after year. I sincerely hope the president hears from the men and women on the ground today on the urgency of implementing forest management, and I welcome future bipartisan collaboration on this issue. After all, nowhere is it more true than forest management and wildfires that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."