Vilsack Scorches Congress: If You Expect USFS To Fight Ever-Larger Fires, Then Pay For It

[hatrack]

As Congress headed home for the Christmas break after passing a budget deal, Agriculture Department Secretary Tom Vilsack presented lawmakers with an angry ultimatum: Put up more cash if you want the U.S. Forest Service to keep putting out huge wildfires.

Vilsack is fuming because Congress set aside $1.6 billion to pay for wildfire suppression in 2016 despite the service, which he controls, spending $100 million more than that to fight blazes this year. Year after year, Congress has underfunded the firefighting effort, forcing the Forest Service to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars from other departments in the agency to pay for equipment and firefighters.

EDIT

In a smoldering letter to lawmakers Thursday, Vilsack put his foot down. The 2016 budget “fails to provide a long-term solution to address the critical and growing problem of paying for catastrophic wildfire and instead leaves the Forest Service hobbled by the current untenable budget situation,” he wrote. He issued what amounts to a threat, saying he will no longer rob from other departments to pay for firefighting efforts that Congress doesn’t fund.

“If the amount Congress appropriated in 2016 is not sufficient to cover fire suppression costs, Congress will need to appropriate additional funding on an emergency basis,” Vilsack wrote.

EDIT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/12/18/wildfires-are-more-expensive-to-fight-than-ever-but-once-again-congress-refused-to-pay-the-bill/

[truedelphi]

1. I live in Northern Calif., in a county devastated by fires.

The local newspaper let us all know last week, that despite some 40 million being put aside by the state legislature, for the purpose of any emergency wild fire spending, this county will be billed some three or four million bucks to help pay for Cal Fire's efforts and the US Forest Service too (I believe.)

This is a small county, whose financial infrastructure has suffered a huge blow. Where will we get that money?

And where is the 40 million supposedly put aside by the state?

Anyway, I hope Vilsack stays on this topic. And that he gets some results.

[valerief]

2. Heaven forbid they take money from WAR PROFITEERS to pay for it. nt

[Wellstone ruled]

3. But but there ain't no climate changie thingee according to

the Rethug finance Committee. So there for you do need any more Entitlement money. Hope this weather pattern hangs in their for awhile,if not,we are in really deep trouble next summer.

[2naSalit]

4. He should tell them

that if they don't pay for it, their trophy homes in the woods will be let to burn so the FS can focus on more forest areas. Then he should request that their trophy homes be doused in "mud" and that's they only protection they'll get if they even get that much attention.

Several of my friends are FS smokejuimpers and air-tac, I hate it when I hear their stories of how they had to focus on trophy homes rather than other areas where they should have been focused.