The U.S. House approved, 218-199, a package of bills to address wildfire and drought in the West.
According to News From The States, the measure includes 49 standalone bills which includes provisions to: permanently increase wildland firefighter pay; lift a cap on the federal cost share for post-fire recovery funding; and authorize more than $1.5 billion for water infrastructure to mitigate drought conditions.
There are several water bills, including a $1 billion bill for tribal water infrastructure grants and $700 million more authorized for a water-recycling project created in the infrastructure law.
Three water bills were sponsored by New Mexico Democrat Melanie Stansbury. These bills include the authorization of $500 million to assist Colorado River Basin reservoirs from declining to critical levels and to establish a mitigation plan for the Rio Grande Basin.
217 Democrats voted in favor of the bill, as well as one Republican. One Democrat and 198 Republicans opposed the bill.
Colorado Democrat Joe Neguse, the chairman of a House subcommittee on public lands and forestry, sponsored the omnibus measure, reported News From The States.
“We have a duty to provide our constituents with the support that they need to rebuild and to recover,” Neguse said during the debate, reported News From The States. “The reality is that we are living with a new normal as climate change results in a hotter, drier planet where historic drought and record setting wildfires are not merely a possibility, but an inevitability.”
According to Neguse, the firefighter pay measure would indefinitely extend a raise to a minimum of $20 per hour. This was originally enacted in the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law, however without congressional action, the raise would expire at the end of September 2023.
The package entails:
- A bill to allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to lift the cap on the federal share of fire assistance grants, which is currently 75%. The bill would mean FEMA could determine circumstances when the federal share could be higher;
- Ratifying a 10-year plan for the U.S. Forest Service and authorizing $1.5 billion per year for the next decade for fire-related programs; And
- Authorizing spending on large scale forest projects the administration has already identified.
Those projects include, according to News From The States, include: The Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) and Greater Prescott Area Wildlife Protection and Restoration in Arizona, the Colorado Front Range, Southwest Idaho, the Kootenai Complex in Montana, the Enchanted Circle in New Mexico and Central Oregon.
“We must pass this legislation so that our communities have the tools and the resources that they need to remain resilient,” Stansbury said, reported News From The States.
The package would establish a National Disaster Safety Board. This board would: collect data on natural disasters; offer information to help mitigate these conditions; and then create another board to study wildfire impacts and the effects of climate change on fires.
According to News From The States, The Biden administration offered qualified support for House passage of the bill in a July 26 statement from the Office of Management and Budget.
“The Administration appreciates the interest of Congress in the Administration’s efforts to address climate change and its effects on wildfires and drought,” the statement said, reported News From The States. “The Administration would like to work with the Congress to ensure the many provisions in the Act avoid duplication with existing authorities and Administration efforts.”
Currently, The Senate has not scheduled actions to consider the measure, reported News From The States.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee would have jurisdiction over most of the package but has declined to comment.
