Nick Rahall

Mr. RAHALL

Mr. RAHALL. I thank the gentleman for yielding. We accept the amendment on this side.

Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment made in order under the rule.

Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Chairman, the pending measure contains a sense of the Congress resolution regarding the budgetary treatment of the FLAME fund. We've been working with the Budget Committee on this matter and appreciate their interest in this legislation, and as such, I no longer see a need for the sense of Congress provision. My amendment simply strikes it from the bill, and I ask for adoption of the amendment. I reserve my time.

Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentleman yielding. I want to thank him for his amendment, and we accept it.

Mr. RAHALL

Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Clerk be authorized to make technical corrections in the engrossment of H.R. 1404, to include corrections in spelling, punctuation, section numbering and cross-referencing, and the insertion of appropriate headings.

Mr. RAHALL

Mr. RAHALL. I yield myself such time as I may consume. I certainly understand what the gentleman from Washington is referencing. I said last year during debate on this floor to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) that I certainly understand the need to develop comprehensive preventive legislation that is aimed at truly getting at the root causes of these forest fires. I would repeat to the gentleman from Washington, my respected ranking member, that if he introduces such legislation--any member introduces such legislation--we will certainly bring it forth before our committee and give it due consideration and certainly try to work on it as well as we have on this legislation to bring it to the floor of the House. Mr. Chairman, I'm going to recap very quickly since we are closing general debate at this point. For much of the last decade, the wildlands fire season has been expanding due to factors such as climate change and drought. Unfortunately, future trends appear to indicate that this increase will only continue. Within the Forest Service, wildlands fire activity now accounts for nearly half of their budget. The Forest Service spent over $1 billion fighting wildland fires last year. The skyrocketing cost of fighting fires has led to the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior to rob Peter to pay Paul and borrow funds from other agency accounts. There were cuts to fire preparedness, State fire assistance, cooperative fire assistance, and hazardous fuel treatments in Forest Service budgets. The FLAME Act will allow the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior to respond to dangerous fires while also accomplishing other important parts of their mission. The act will relieve the drain on the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior budgets to ensure that funding is not swept away from vital fire prevention activities. I conclude by urging adoption of the pending measure.

Mr. RAHALL. I yield 2 minutes to someone who knows well the problems this legislation seeks to address, the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Heinrich).

Mr. RAHALL. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RAHALL. I yield myself such time as I may consume, Mr. Chairman. The Congress, under the previous majority, in 2003 enacted the Healthy Forests Restoration Act under the guise that it was the solution to preventing wildland fires on Federal lands. Today, nearly 6 years later, fires are still raging across the country and the Federal land managers are breaking the bank trying to pay for them. Clearly, it's time to try something new--and that's what we are attempting to do in this legislation. I would certainly note that in passing the Healthy Forests Restoration Act, Congress authorized $760 million annually for hazardous fuels treatments on Federal lands. Sadly, the Bush administration continuously underfunded hazardous fuels treatments at only 65 percent of the level authorized by Congress. The skyrocketing cost of fighting fires forced drastic reductions in other Forest Service accounts under the Bush administration. This included cuts to fire preparedness, State fire assistance, cooperative fire assistance, and hazardous fuels treatments. The lack of investment in fire prevention under the Bush administration led to a situation where communities around the country have NEPA-approved hazardous fuels projects waiting for Federal funding. In western States last year, there were over 1 million acres of NEPA- approved hazardous fuels projects that were awaiting funding from the Bush administration. The FLAME Act will relieve the drain on the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior budgets to ensure that funding is not swept away from vital fire prevention activities. This is why the FLAME Act has received support from those organizations I mentioned in my opening statement--a rather broad-based list of organizations, well over 40, that are in support of the pending legislation. I reserve the balance of my time, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am pleased to bring before this body proactive legislation which would establish a new arsenal to provide the necessary resources to combat catastrophic wildfires. We are all aware of the raging fires which annually sweep across parts of America. Over the last decade, wildfires have become increasingly dangerous and destructive, burning more acreage and more property more often. Yet, financially, the Federal Government continues to be ill-prepared to respond to these fires. Every year the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the other Federal agencies are forced to dramatically shift spending priorities, rapidly increasing funding for fire fighting at the expense of other vital programs. This ``Rob Peter to Pay Paul'' approach requires these agencies to borrow funds from other accounts, causing everything from basic maintenance to visitor services to suffer. In fact, as it stands, nearly half of the Forest Service's annual budget is spent putting out fires, causing some to point out that the agency is no longer the U.S. Forest Service, but rather, the U.S. Fire Service. The legislation before us, the Federal Land Assistance Management Enhancement Act, or FLAME Act, is a bipartisan effort to correct course by getting out in front of these tragic fire seasons. The legislation would address the funding problem by establishing a dedicated fund for catastrophic, emergency wildland fire suppression activities, separate from appropriated, fire-fighting funding. This pot of money would be available when appropriated funds run out, saving the agencies from having to cut into nonfire programs. The Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior would be authorized to use money from the FLAME fund only after making a specific declaration that a fire was large enough and dangerous enough to warrant such action. The bill would also require the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior to present to Congress a long-overdue, comprehensive strategy for combating wildland fire, a strategy that would address the troubling shortcomings in the agencies' response to fires identified by the Government Accountability Office and the Agriculture Department's Inspector General. I would note that this legislation complements proposals in President Obama's proposed budget to establish a dedicated fund for catastrophic wildfires. This legislation also enjoys the support of the five former chiefs of the Forest Service, the National Association of State Foresters, the National Association of Counties, the National Federation of Federal Employees, the Western Governors' Association, and nearly 40 other organizations. I am honored to be joined by our subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Grijalva); our Interior Appropriations chairman Norm Dicks; Interior Appropriations ranking member Simpson; and Congressman Greg Walden as original cosponsors of H.R. 1404. Agriculture chairman Collin Peterson is also a cosponsor of the bill. Each of these Members understands that fire, and the cost of fighting it, is among the most serious issues facing our Federal land management agencies. If not addressed, this issue will continue to cost homes, businesses, communities, public lands, and lives. The FLAME Act will allow the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior to respond to these dangerous fires while also accomplishing other important aspects of their missions, including those that will prevent fires from devastating our communities in the future. I ask my colleagues to support passage of the FLAME Act. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RAHALL. I yield the gentlelady another 30 seconds.

Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Chairman, I'm very happy to yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from California (Mrs. Capps), a very valued member of our Committee on Natural Resources that was so instrumental in bringing this legislation, as well as many other pieces of legislation out of our committee, to the floor.

Mr. RAHALL

Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Mrs. Dahlkemper).

Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, many Members on the minority side have been helping us with this legislation. I now am pleased to recognize one such Member, the gentleman from California (Mr. McKeon), for 2 minutes.

Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the matter under consideration.

Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I am very honored to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished subcommittee chair on our Committee on Natural Resources, the Chair of the Water Resources Subcommittee, the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Napolitano).

Mr. RAHALL. I yield the gentleman 30 additional seconds.

Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 280, I move to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 146) to establish a battlefield acquisition grant program for the acquisition and protection of nationally significant battlefields and associated sites of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, and for other purposes, with the Senate amendments thereto, and I have a motion at the desk.

Mr. RAHALL. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Altmire) who has helped us craft some language in the bill that is supported by the National Rifle Association.

Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close on our side. I am our last speaker.

Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Wu), who has been very helpful to us as well on this legislation.

Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I am forced to yield myself 30 seconds to respond to the total inaccuracies just stated by the gentleman. First of all, the fossil collection measure in this bill applies only to public lands, no private lands whatsoever. And if the gentleman had heard my opening statement or even seen what the Senate passed, he would recognize--that the other body passed--he would recognize that the casual collector of fossils is exempt from this legislation. It only applies to those who are in the professional collection of fossils on public lands once again. In regard to the locking away of land from oil and gas developments, what you are going to keep hearing throughout today from the other side is that old mantra ``drill, baby, drill'' that we are hearing over and over and again, and they just don't get it anymore. I am glad to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell).

Mr. RAHALL. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt).