[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 60 (Tuesday, May 16, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H3062-H3067]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S 
  RESPONSIBILITY FOR STARTING A DESTRUCTIVE FIRE NEAR LOS ALAMOS, NEW 
                                 MEXICO

  Mrs. CHENOWETH-HAGE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 326) expressing the 
sense of the Congress regarding the Federal Government's responsibility 
for starting a destructive fire near Los Alamos, New Mexico.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 326

       Whereas on May 4, 2000, the National Park Service initiated 
     a prescription burn on Federal land during the southwest's 
     peak fire season;
       Whereas on May 5, 2000, the prescription burn exceeded the 
     containment capabilities of the National Park Service, was 
     reclassified as a wildland burn, and spread to non-Federal 
     land, quickly becoming characterized as a firestorm;
       Whereas by May 7, 2000, the fire had grown in size and 
     caused evacuations in and around Los Alamos, New Mexico, 
     including the Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of 
     America's leading national research laboratories and 
     birthplace of the atomic bomb;

[[Page H3063]]

       Whereas on May 12, 2000, the President issued a major 
     disaster declaration for the Counties of Bernalillo, Cibola, 
     Los Alamos, McKinley, Mora, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, San Juan, 
     San Miguel, Santa Fe, Taos, and Torrance;
       Whereas the fire resulted in the loss of Federal, State, 
     local, tribal, and private property;
       Whereas the loss to private citizens of personal property 
     and memories cannot be accounted for in monetary terms nor 
     repaid with financial assistance; and
       Whereas a full congressional investigation will assist the 
     Federal Government to determine the cause of this disaster 
     and its full cost to the Federal Government and the people of 
     New Mexico: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That--
       (1) it is the sense of the Congress that the Federal 
     Government should--
       (A) take responsibility for the fire intentionally set by 
     the National Park Service at the Bandelier National Monument, 
     New Mexico, on May 4, 2000, which burned out of control near 
     Los Alamos, New Mexico;
       (B) take all necessary steps to mitigate the threats from 
     the fire to the public health and well-being of the residents 
     of New Mexico; and
       (C) take all necessary steps to compensate the people of 
     New Mexico for the losses incurred as a result of National 
     Park Service actions; and
       (2) the Congress commends--
       (A) the people of New Mexico for opening their homes and 
     their hearts to the New Mexican communities affected by this 
     fire;
       (B) the New Mexico firefighting teams for their efforts and 
     courage in battling the fire;
       (C) the New Mexico National Guard and the State of New 
     Mexico for their efforts in mitigating the fire and assisting 
     those affected by it;
       (D) the American Red Cross and numerous other charitable 
     organizations and volunteers for the extensive assistance 
     provided to the fire victims;
       (E) the Western States that have assisted New Mexico by 
     sending people and equipment to help fight the fire;
       (F) the businesses which have served as food and clothing 
     collection points;
       (G) all organizations and individuals that have collected 
     and disseminated information to those affected by the fire;
       (H) Sandia National Laboratories for extending assistance 
     to fire victims;
       (I) the Department of Energy for providing analysis and 
     monitoring public health concerns; and
       (J) the people of the United States for opening their 
     hearts to assist with the plight of New Mexicans affected by 
     the fire and for sending additional firefighting teams to 
     help battle the fire.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Idaho (Mrs. Chenoweth-Hage) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Idaho (Mrs. Chenoweth-
Hage).


                             General Leave

  Mrs. CHENOWETH-HAGE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material on House Concurrent 
Resolution 326.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Idaho?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. CHENOWETH-HAGE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may 
consume to the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Mrs. Wilson).
  Mrs. WILSON. Mr. Speaker, it has been a very difficult week in New 
Mexico. My colleague, the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Udall), is not 
here. He is still in northern New Mexico. As so many New Mexicans have 
in the past week, we are pitching in together and holding up our end of 
the stick.
  We wanted to move forward with this resolution today, not only to 
recognize those who have served and are still serving in the great 
State of New Mexico fighting the fires, but to begin to rebuild and 
look to the future, and for the Federal government and for this 
Congress to stand up and take responsibility for a fire that was 
started by the Federal government.
  Mr. Speaker, the sense of the Congress that my colleagues will have 
an opportunity to vote on today recognizes a tragedy and a disaster in 
the State of New Mexico that I would like to talk about a little bit, 
because its origins will affect this Congress and how it appropriates 
funds this year.
  Let me talk first a little bit about what happened. On May 4, it 
seems like a long, long time ago right now, the National Park Service 
set a prescribed burn which was supposed to be a controlled burn in the 
Bandelier National Forest, which is down here.
  This is the area of the fire as of last night. The red area is that 
part of New Mexico that has been devastated by fire. Here is the Baca 
ranch, we are in the process of trying to purchase that for the Federal 
government. This is Bandelier National Monument, the Santa Clara Indian 
Reservation here, 10 percent of which has been burned, and the fire is 
now dangerously close to the cliff dwellings.
  Here in the middle is the town of Los Alamos and Los Alamos National 
Laboratories. Los Alamos is a city built on mesas. It was a closed city 
for many years, put out in the middle of northern New Mexico where 
nobody would be likely to find its secrets.
  On May 4, the National Park Service started a prescribed burn over 
here. That fire quickly became out of control, and while the Department 
of the Interior is conducting an administrative investigation as to 
whether their procedures were followed, the National Park Service has 
acknowledged that they started the fire, that they started it in very 
dry conditions, and it quickly got out of control.
  By Sunday night, I got a phone call from my former legislative 
director who went back to New Mexico to work there just 8 months ago, 
and he moved to Los Alamos. His house is in the western part of Los 
Alamos here. He was supposed to meet with me on Monday morning. He 
called and said, they are evacuating our neighborhood. I am not going 
to be able to be at the meeting on Monday. He got what he could in his 
pick-up truck and got his dog and headed down to White Rock, where his 
parents live. White Rock is this little community down here.
  For about 48 hours it looked as though they had things mostly under 
control or at least contained, and the fire had not crossed State Route 
4, which they were kind of using as a fire line. But on Wednesday, last 
Wednesday, we got the call here that the fire had jumped the road, that 
the winds were gusting to 40 and 50 and 60 miles an hour, that the 
humidity was 10 percent, and that as sparks dropped, 9 out of 10 sparks 
were starting new fires. The plume of smoke stretched all the way 
across northern New Mexico and into Texas and Oklahoma on high winds.
  Immediately they began the evacuation of the town of Los Alamos and 
of Los Alamos National Laboratories. Los Alamos is the birthplace of 
the atomic bomb. It is a place that still has nuclear materials, and 
there was a real concern on the part of the residents of New Mexico 
about environmental safety and health if a raging forest fire crossed 
Los Alamos National Laboratories.
  The laboratory I believe was well prepared, and the Department of 
Energy responded, as did the Environmental Protection Agency and 
numerous agencies, to monitor and make sure that all the plans were in 
place and executed well to protect the people of New Mexico and even 
surrounding States.

                              {time}  1100

  But they could not fight the fire. The wind was too strong. By 1 a.m. 
on Thursday, they began to evacuate the town of White Rock. The fire 
had spread down Pajarito Canyon, and they were fighting to keep it from 
reaching the town of White Rock and reaching a number of technical 
areas that contained nuclear material.
  So by Thursday at breakfast time, 20,000 New Mexicans had been 
evacuated from their homes. The winds were still high. There was no 
water pressure in Los Alamos. But the Los Alamos police department 
stayed in place. Throughout that terrible night of Wednesday night when 
260 homes burned, the Los Alamos police department and the fire-
fighting teams from across the American west saved everything that they 
could.
  Last night, I was up in Espanola, which is a town near here and 
Pojoaque, which is just down the hill, and they did re-open 80 percent 
of Los Alamos, everything but the areas that were burned. But the fire 
is still only 35 percent contained, and the winds today are expected to 
gust up to 30 or 40 miles per hour or even higher again.
  But now the biggest part of the fire is up here, burning the Santa 
Clara Indian Reservation and the Santa Clara Canyon, which is sacred to 
the Santa Clara Pueblo.
  In this country, we are used to dealing with disasters with floods 
along the

[[Page H3064]]

Mississippi or hurricanes along the Gulf Coast or earthquakes in 
California, but there is a difference with this one. It is not just the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency coming in to help those in some way 
get back on their feet because they did not have insurance. Everyone in 
this town knows that the Federal Government started the fire. This was 
not an act of God. It was an act of man. While it was not intentional 
that this fire rage out of control, that the Park Service did not mean 
for this to happen, they set the fire that destroyed 260 homes and the 
lives of 400 families and the businesses and incomes of thousands of 
residents of Los Alamos in White Rock.
  I spent much of the weekend dealing with the fire and the fire's 
victims. The response of the people of New Mexico to this disaster 
really warms one's heart. We always read about people taking advantage 
of people when things are going bad, and that did not happen in New 
Mexico.
  There was nobody there trying to sell bottles of water for $5 or $10. 
On the contrary, there were truckloads of food and water and clothing 
streaming into Sante Fe and Los Alamos. Twenty thousand people 
relocated from a rural area in northern New Mexico, and immediately 
every hotel and motel in Sante Fe and Espanola in northern New Mexico 
dropped their prices to $25 a night. It has probably been since 1920 
since one has been able to get a $25 a night hotel room in Sante Fe, 
New Mexico; but last weekend, one could get one if one were a victim of 
a fire.
  The Red Cross mobilized. I was there on Friday morning in Albuquerque 
at the Red Cross Center there where they were bringing in the national 
teams. On Friday afternoon, they had to stop taking donated supplies 
because they had no more storage room. But they were still accepting 
donations.
  Intel walked in on Thursday afternoon with a $100,000 check. As I was 
standing there, a man walked in and opened his wallet and emptied it 
and gave it to the Red Cross.
  Most of the banks in New Mexico set up special accounts for the 
victims of the fire. I went by one. It is not a big bank. It is called 
First State Bank. It is a New Mexico bank. They have a New Mexico 
flavor. They do not even wear ties to work. On Thursday mid-morning, 
they opened an account and just called the local radio station to say 
they had opened one. Six hours later, they had collected $34,000 from 
New Mexicans who just walked in to donate to the victims of the fire.
  As one can see, Los Alamos is kind of an isolated community, and 
there were over 1,000 fire fighters and policemen and Red Cross workers 
who still needed to be fed in a place that is really hard to get to. I 
was up in Los Alamos on Friday afternoon, and the Los Alamos Inn was 
still open. That is where most of the media and many of the fire 
fighters and rescue people were staging out of.
  There was a waitress who continued to work there. They were just 
making food and bringing it in. She had her 4-year-old daughter with 
her there at work. I do not think she stopped working since they 
evacuated the town.
  Down at Ray's in Albuquerque was one of the staging points for the 
food and water distribution. I was there on Friday morning. Mayflower 
had donated big trailer trucks to take food and water and clothing up 
to the victims of the fire. I was there. In probably about an hour and 
a half, they had filled half a tractor trailer truck full of food and 
water and clothing and bedding and equipment to rebuild lives and 
homes.
  Car after car was just driving through the parking lot and opening 
their trunks and giving. There is a man who wanted to remain anonymous, 
but he donated 1,000 brand new suits to the Salvation Army down in 
Espanola to reclothe the victims of the fire. It kind of made me laugh 
actually because, in Los Alamos, they do not often wear suits. It is 
kind of a relaxed place of scientists and Ph.D.s. They probably will be 
better dressed than they have in a long time. But it is that kind of 
generosity that has been provoked by the fire.

  The New Mexico home builders immediately got together, and they 
wanted to make sure there was not a lot of scamming of people who lost 
their homes. So they are working with the New Mexico Attorney General 
to come up with a list of the licensed contractors so that every victim 
knows what their options are and they will not have somebody show up at 
the front of their door and say, give me $2,000, and I will fix their 
siding, and they never see them again, which so often happens after 
these kinds of disasters.
  They also called all of the suppliers, all of the suppliers for the 
home building industry and said, we want the best and lowest prices you 
can get us for building materials to help rebuild. Those guys probably 
have the power to make that happen.
  On Friday morning, I went by United Blood Services in Albuquerque. 
See, last week, there was supposed to be a big blood drive in Los 
Alamos, and they depend on that to supply the State of New Mexico. They 
have kind of got their plan from where they are going to get enough 
blood from this week to make sure all the hospitals were supplied.
  They were 400 pints short because they had not been able to do the 
Los Alamos blood drive. So they put out a special appeal and said they 
were having a special week in Albuquerque, and please come in and 
donate blood. I dropped by, and the line was an hour wait just to 
donate blood because the people in Los Alamos were not there to donate 
blood.
  But as I was standing there and watching the live news reports from 
Los Alamos, there was a lady standing next to me watching as well. Her 
husband was donating blood. They were in Texas when the fire started, 
and they are from Los Alamos. The first thing they did when they came 
back to the State was to go donate blood while they wondered if their 
home still stood.
  We have a number of military bases in New Mexico, and the military 
was there, too, the National Guard, the Army Guard, the Air Guard as 
well as active duty. A lot of guys loading the trucks with food and 
water were active duty military who were not on their shifts.
  I met one guy. His name was David. He is a Sergeant in the Air Force. 
He has only been stationed in New Mexico for about a year. He is out at 
AFOTEC in Kirtland Air Force Base. He had come into the Red Cross 
because he figured the guys on the base could take the 6:00-to-6:00 
shift and man the phones at night, and he could get a lot of his 
friends to help to relieve the Red Cross volunteers.
  Many of the elementary schools in New Mexico all over New Mexico have 
gathered contributions for the victims of the fire. This has affected 
so many people's lives.
  I dropped by the Elks Lodge in Los Alamos, which is right up there by 
the Los Alamos Inn. They stayed there to pass out food to the fire 
fighters and to the cops. They were kind of funny about it. There is 
more than a little gallows humor in these kinds of things. They said, 
well, the Elks Lodge really is not known around this town for the thing 
we do for the community, but we do do quite a lot.
  There were folks coming in in their pickup trucks. One family from 
Santa Clara Pueblo had a pickup truck full of all kinds of snacks and 
food, and they were going to every one of the trail heads to make sure 
that all the fire fighters would be fed in an F-150 pickup that looked 
like it was about a 1981 version with about 130,000 miles on it. But 
their Pueblo was threatened, and they had not been evacuated yet, and 
they were going to do everything they could until they needed their 
pickup truck to move out of their own homes. At that time, they did not 
know if they would have to move or not.
  Los Alamos has more Ph.D.s per capita than any other town in the 
world. It is probably not a surprise that, during this disaster, it was 
the Internet Professional Association that got up an Internet site 
immediately to communicate among the victims of the fire spread out 
across the State and their relatives, many of whom were looking for 
them.
  They put up a web site that, not only had information for folks, but 
also had bulletin boards so that one could ask about one's friends or 
relatives or have any of you seen so and so, or we are missing our 
horses, down where they might be, to help with the information and the 
confusion of a disaster.
  While sometimes we always like to pick on the press a little bit in 
this town, I have to give some commendations also to the television and 
radio

[[Page H3065]]

stations in New Mexico. All three of our television stations were 
working around the clock during this disaster, giving information to 
people and providing that public service to keep people informed on 
where they could go and what they should do and what the fire was doing 
to their lives.

  My husband is in the Air Guard. On Saturday morning our phone rang, 
and the New Mexico Air Guard was called to duty for a civilian disaster 
for the first time in 30 years. The last time the Air Guard was called 
up for a disaster, State disaster, was during the riots in Vietnam at 
the University of New Mexico. But the Air Guard took on the task of 
taking in the victims, the one who had lost their homes, so that they 
could see what was lost and begin the process of getting insurance 
coverage and rebuilding their lives.
  So he went up to do that on Saturday and Sunday, and he ended up 
taking in a busload of folks. As they were driving down the street, he 
really understood what the fire department had done, the extraordinary 
efforts they had gone to to save homes and save neighborhoods from a 
raging inferno.
  There was one burned house, and right next to it, and he kind of 
laughed, was a fire hose with the end burned off. These guys were 
serious about doing everything they could to save the homes and lives 
of their neighborhoods.
  So where are we now? This fire is 35 percent contained. It is burning 
mostly on the northern end. 80 percent of the residents of Los Alamos 
are able to get back into their homes. Some will never go back into 
their homes.
  Every red dot on this map is a home that is not there anymore, 260 
buildings, over 400 families that were burned out by a fire started by 
the United States Government. But it is not only their losses that the 
city of Los Alamos is feeling. Every small business in Los Alamos has 
been out of work and off the hill for over a week.
  I ran into a family at Pojoaque Red Cross Station at the high school 
last night.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pease). The time of the gentlewoman from 
New Mexico (Mrs. Wilson) has expired.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield 2 minutes to the 
gentlewoman from New Mexico (Mrs. Wilson).

                              {time}  1115

  Mrs. WILSON. The question is, where do we go from here? FEMA is doing 
everything they can, like they do in floods and tornadoes and other 
disasters, in bringing assistance to the people of New Mexico, but the 
reality is that the Federal Government started this fire. I am not a 
lawyer, I do not do liability, but there is responsibility, and the 
Federal Government must stand up and take responsibility for the 
actions and the consequences of those actions.
  On the night of May 4, the National Weather Service told the Park 
Service that there were potential blow-out conditions and that any 
controlled fire might not be controlled. They lit the fire anyway. This 
resolution before the House today commends the people of New Mexico and 
those surrounding States that have helped New Mexico deal with this 
disaster, and it takes responsibility on the part of the Federal 
Government for this disaster.
  We will begin to rebuild Los Alamos, but it will be with the help and 
assistance of the Federal Government, which must take responsibility 
for the actions that it took.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  (Mr. GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and 
extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am here today to speak on behalf 
of my friend and neighbor, fellow Congressman, the gentleman from New 
Mexico (Mr. Udall). I say neighbor because the State of Texas and New 
Mexico are very close. In fact, at one time Texas claimed part of that 
area where the fire is at in the last century.
  I have followed this story and the tragic fires in my colleague's 
district in northern New Mexico that has disrupted the lives of 
thousands of citizens of New Mexico, and we have shared the anguish of 
their families who have lost their homes and cherished possessions. 
There is, of course, no price we can place on much of what has been 
lost, but our hearts go out, and not only those of us who are Texas 
neighbors but also from the entire country, to the New Mexican people 
for this tragedy.
  What we can do, though, is to support the relief and recovery of the 
people who are now faced with putting their lives back together, 
because that is the right thing to do. The New Mexico Congressional 
delegation has done just that, and on their behalf the gentleman from 
New Mexico (Mr. Udall) asks that all his colleagues here in the House 
provide their support.
  Right now the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Udall) is back in his 
district working to provide his support to try to make the difference. 
He is making sure information about what assistance is available is 
getting to the people in his Third Congressional District who have been 
hit so hard by this fire. He is also walking through the fire stricken 
parts of his district, talking to his constituents and listening to 
them about what they need to put their lives back together.
  What he has already learned has made him grateful for the efforts of 
the many New Mexicans and the communities surrounding the fire who have 
pulled together even as this tragedy unfolded, opening their homes and 
their hearts to the less fortunate. He has also expressed his 
gratefulness for the efforts of the countless organizations and 
firefighters who have helped bring some order to this shattered scene.
  Even from that distance he is advocating for what his constituents 
are telling him by working with this Congress to keep the Federal 
efforts to help these citizens on track. The resolution is one example.
  While in New Mexico, he has been working here in Washington to ensure 
that the emergency funds needed for these efforts are available. He has 
asked for $100 million in additional emergency aid for that purpose. 
And, Mr. Speaker, I would like to read from a letter from the gentleman 
from Washington (Mr. Dicks), who is a member of the Committee on 
Appropriations, and the ranking Democratic member on the Subcommittee 
on the Interior, to the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Udall):

       I am pleased to report that we are pursuing your 
     suggestions in the Committee on Appropriations with regard to 
     the need to replenish the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of 
     Land Management firefighting funds in this fiscal year. While 
     the emergency supplemental appropriations bill, which the 
     House passed and sent to the Senate on March 30, contained 
     $250 million for these accounts, Senator Lott's opposition to 
     moving the supplemental bill precluded us from providing 
     additional funds to these agencies this spring, even though 
     the expected weather conditions and Forest Service 
     predictions indicate a very high risk of wildfires this year.
       With the fire still raging in your State of New Mexico, and 
     with these accounts becoming seriously depleted, it is our 
     intention to introduce a freestanding supplemental 
     appropriations bill containing $350 million, $200 million for 
     the Bureau of Land Management and $150 million for the U.S. 
     Forest Service, to reflect the current estimates for 
     emergency firefighting expenses. I want you to know that 
     there is broad support in the Appropriations Committee, among 
     both Republican and Democratic Members, for such a strategy. 
     Pending a decision on whether a separate supplemental bill 
     will have sufficient support in the Senate, I want you to 
     know that it is also the committee's intention to add this 
     amount of funding to the fiscal year 2001 Interior 
     appropriations bill when the Interior Appropriations 
     Subcommittee considers the bill on Wednesday. That is 
     tomorrow.
       In addition, I have sought agreement from our committee 
     leadership to designate this funding as emergency in nature, 
     so that it will be available immediately upon passage by both 
     Houses and when signed by the President.

  Again, continuing the letter, Mr. Speaker,

       Let me assure you that I and all of my colleagues on the 
     Appropriations Committee understand the urgent situation you 
     have brought to our attention. To the best of our ability, we 
     will attempt to play a constructive role in assuring that 
     Forest Service and BLM firefighters will have sufficient 
     resources to hire the fire crews to contain the New Mexico 
     fires now occurring, as well as to fight additional wildfires 
     that may occur later in this fiscal year.

  Again, Mr. Speaker, this letter is signed by the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. Dicks), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on 
Interior of the Committee on Appropriations.

[[Page H3066]]

  While the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Udall) is in New Mexico he 
remains in close contact with the Federal agencies that share the 
assistance and relief responsibilities for dealing with this disaster. 
He wants to make sure that the maximum effort is being employed to 
discharge these responsibilities. And, again, having him on the ground 
in New Mexico is just like, and I can relate to it in Texas when we 
have a hurricane come to the coast in Houston, oftentimes we have to 
fight a battle here to have the resources at home, but oftentimes we 
need to be at home to see what our constituents need, and that is what 
the gentleman from New Mexico is doing today.
  This resolution is a first step in taking both responsibility for the 
fire but also to help mitigate the threats of fire to public health and 
to take the necessary steps to compensate the people of New Mexico. As 
the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Mrs. Wilson) mentioned, and the 
gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Udall) has expressed to me, the people 
in New Mexico are opening their homes and their hearts to the people 
affected.
  The firefighting teams should be commended for their courage in 
battling the fire, as well as the New Mexico National Guard and the 
State of New Mexico for their efforts in mitigating the fire. We could 
go on and on. The American Red Cross, and the other western States who 
have provided help to New Mexico by sending people and equipment, as 
well as the businesses who have served food and clothing at collection 
points. Thanks also should go to the Sandia National Laboratory for 
their assistance to the fire victims, and the Department of Energy for 
providing analysis regarding public health.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentlewoman from 
Idaho (Mrs. Chenoweth-Hage).
  Mrs. CHENOWETH-HAGE. Mr. Speaker, how much time is remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pease). The gentlewoman from Idaho (Mrs. 
Chenoweth-Hage) has 12 minutes remaining.
  Mrs. CHENOWETH-HAGE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I really want to commend the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Mrs. 
Wilson) for this very quick response resolution, letting the National 
Park Service know of our deep concern about their destructive and 
negligent actions in this matter.
  Mr. Speaker, this is not one moment too soon to let the Federal land 
management agencies know that we as a Congress take these issues very 
seriously and we will take appropriate action. This is more than money 
that is involved. What happened here was the fact that it has become 
apparent that the Federal agencies do not understand the consequences 
of their actions or their inactions.
  There was an inordinate amount of squabbling about what kind of 
aircraft to use to put out the fire quickly, while it was still 
containable. And, yes, people can make mistakes, but to see continual 
finger pointing at each other between the agencies does not resolve the 
problem. What we in the Congress must do to resolve the problem is to 
make sure that we have agencies who know how to take the appropriate 
action when these destructive measures happen in our country.
  This phenomenon that is occurring lately is one where we see agencies 
not able to take the proper course and not be able to make decisions, 
and it costs lives. It costs the lives of animals who are burned, it 
destroys habitat, it destroys landscapes, it destroys homes, it 
destroys families, it destroys communities because a handful of 
individuals fail to make the right decisions at the right time.
  Mr. Speaker, the time has come when this Congress must begin to look 
in a new direction for the appropriate measures to make sure that we 
have agencies who are responsive to these emergency needs. The fires 
burning today in New Mexico provide the Nation with the very worst 
examples of Federal agency mismanagement of the public trust. The 
National Park Service is, frankly, acting like children playing with 
matches, not understanding the consequences of their actions.
  Since becoming chairman of the Subcommittee on Forests and Forest 
Health, I have held numerous hearings on Federal agency firefighting, 
fire prevention and related issues. And through these efforts, my 
subcommittee has uncovered many, many serious problems. Even before the 
Cerro Grande fires, I had begun planning a hearing on the 
administration's overreliance on prescribed fire. Now, in continuation 
of our investigation, my subcommittee is in the process of scheduling 
two hearings to follow up just as soon as possible.
  Again, I want to thank the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Mrs. Wilson) 
and the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Udall) for their leadership on 
this issue. Rest assured we will get to the bottom of this issue.
  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I am here today to speak on 
behalf of my cousin and fellow Congressman Tom Udall. We have followed 
the story of the tragic fires in my cousin's district in New Mexico 
that have disrupted the lives of thousands of our citizens in New 
Mexico and we have shared the anguish of the families that have lost 
their homes and cherished possessions. There is, of course, no price 
that we can place on much of what has been lost.
  What we can do, though, is support the relief and recovery efforts 
for the people who are now faced with putting their lives back 
together. It is the right thing to do. The New Mexico congressional 
delegation has done just that. And on the delegations behalf he asks 
that you also provide your support for the delegation's efforts.
  Right now, Congressman Tom Udall is back in his district working to 
provide support to his constituents. He is making sure information 
about what assistance is available is getting to the people in the 
Third Congressional District who have been hit so hard by this fire. He 
is also walking through the fire-stricken parts of his district, 
talking with his constituents and listening to them in order to 
understand what they need to put their lives back together.
  What he has learned has made him grateful for the efforts of the New 
Mexicans in the surrounding communities the fire who they pulled 
together even as this tragedy unfolded. Opened their homes and their 
hearts to those less fortunate. And he is so grateful for the efforts 
of the countless organizations and firefighters who have helped bring 
some order to this shattered scene.
  And even from that distance he is advocating for his constituents by 
working with this Congress to keep the Federal efforts to help these 
citizens get back on track. This house resolution is one example.
  While in New Mexico, he has also been working here in Washington to 
ensure that the emergency funds that are needed for these efforts are 
available. He has asked for 100 million dollars in additional emergency 
aid for that purpose.
  And he remains in close contact with the Federal agencies that share 
the assistance and relief responsibilities for dealing with this 
disaster. He will make sure that the maximum effort is employed to meet 
our responsibilities. Colleagues, I am here to tell you that he asks 
for your support for his efforts and those of his colleague Heather 
Wilson to help Americans whose lives have been turned upside down.
  Mrs. CHENOWETH-HAGE. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for 
time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from Idaho (Mrs. Chenoweth-Hage) that the House suspend the 
rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 326.
  The question was taken.
  Mrs. WILSON. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a 
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not 
present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Evidently a quorum is not present.
  The Sergeant at Arms will notify absent Members.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 404, 
nays 0, answered ``present'' 6, not voting 24, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 183]

                               YEAS--404

     Aderholt
     Allen
     Andrews
     Archer
     Armey
     Baca
     Bachus
     Baird
     Baker

[[Page H3067]]


     Baldacci
     Baldwin
     Ballenger
     Barcia
     Barr
     Barrett (NE)
     Barrett (WI)
     Bartlett
     Barton
     Bass
     Becerra
     Bentsen
     Bereuter
     Berkley
     Berman
     Berry
     Biggert
     Bilbray
     Bilirakis
     Bishop
     Blagojevich
     Bliley
     Blumenauer
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Bonior
     Bono
     Borski
     Boswell
     Boyd
     Brady (PA)
     Brady (TX)
     Brown (OH)
     Bryant
     Burr
     Burton
     Buyer
     Calvert
     Camp
     Canady
     Cannon
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardin
     Carson
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chambliss
     Chenoweth-Hage
     Clayton
     Clement
     Clyburn
     Coble
     Coburn
     Collins
     Combest
     Condit
     Conyers
     Cook
     Cooksey
     Costello
     Cox
     Coyne
     Cramer
     Crane
     Crowley
     Cubin
     Cummings
     Cunningham
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis (VA)
     Deal
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     DeMint
     Deutsch
     Diaz-Balart
     Dickey
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Dixon
     Doggett
     Doolittle
     Doyle
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Dunn
     Edwards
     Ehlers
     Ehrlich
     Emerson
     Engel
     English
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Evans
     Everett
     Ewing
     Farr
     Fattah
     Filner
     Fletcher
     Foley
     Forbes
     Ford
     Fossella
     Fowler
     Frank (MA)
     Frelinghuysen
     Frost
     Gallegly
     Ganske
     Gejdenson
     Gekas
     Gephardt
     Gibbons
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gilman
     Gonzalez
     Goode
     Goodlatte
     Goodling
     Gordon
     Goss
     Graham
     Granger
     Green (TX)
     Green (WI)
     Greenwood
     Gutierrez
     Gutknecht
     Hall (OH)
     Hall (TX)
     Hansen
     Hastings (FL)
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Herger
     Hill (IN)
     Hill (MT)
     Hilleary
     Hilliard
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hobson
     Hoeffel
     Hoekstra
     Holden
     Holt
     Hooley
     Horn
     Hostettler
     Houghton
     Hoyer
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Hyde
     Inslee
     Isakson
     Istook
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     Jenkins
     John
     Johnson (CT)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones (NC)
     Jones (OH)
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kasich
     Kennedy
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick
     Kind (WI)
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Kleczka
     Klink
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     Kucinich
     Kuykendall
     LaFalce
     LaHood
     Lampson
     Lantos
     Larson
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Lazio
     Leach
     Lee
     Levin
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (GA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Linder
     Lipinski
     Lofgren
     Lucas (KY)
     Lucas (OK)
     Luther
     Maloney (CT)
     Maloney (NY)
     Manzullo
     Markey
     Mascara
     Matsui
     McCarthy (MO)
     McCrery
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McHugh
     McInnis
     McIntyre
     McKeon
     McKinney
     Meehan
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Menendez
     Metcalf
     Mica
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller (FL)
     Miller, Gary
     Miller, George
     Minge
     Mink
     Moakley
     Moore
     Moran (KS)
     Moran (VA)
     Morella
     Murtha
     Myrick
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal
     Nethercutt
     Ney
     Northup
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Ose
     Owens
     Oxley
     Packard
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Paul
     Payne
     Pease
     Pelosi
     Peterson (MN)
     Peterson (PA)
     Petri
     Phelps
     Pickering
     Pickett
     Pitts
     Pombo
     Pomeroy
     Porter
     Portman
     Price (NC)
     Pryce (OH)
     Quinn
     Radanovich
     Rahall
     Ramstad
     Rangel
     Regula
     Reyes
     Reynolds
     Riley
     Rivers
     Rodriguez
     Roemer
     Rogan
     Rogers
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Rothman
     Roukema
     Roybal-Allard
     Royce
     Rush
     Ryan (WI)
     Ryun (KS)
     Sabo
     Salmon
     Sanchez
     Sanders
     Sandlin
     Sawyer
     Saxton
     Scarborough
     Schaffer
     Schakowsky
     Scott
     Sensenbrenner
     Serrano
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Sherman
     Sherwood
     Shimkus
     Shows
     Shuster
     Simpson
     Sisisky
     Skeen
     Skelton
     Smith (MI)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Smith (WA)
     Snyder
     Souder
     Spence
     Spratt
     Stabenow
     Stark
     Stearns
     Stenholm
     Strickland
     Stump
     Sununu
     Sweeney
     Talent
     Tancredo
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Tauzin
     Taylor (MS)
     Taylor (NC)
     Terry
     Thomas
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Thornberry
     Thune
     Thurman
     Tiahrt
     Tierney
     Toomey
     Towns
     Traficant
     Turner
     Udall (CO)
     Upton
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Vitter
     Walden
     Walsh
     Wamp
     Waters
     Watkins
     Watt (NC)
     Watts (OK)
     Waxman
     Weiner
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     Wexler
     Weygand
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wilson
     Wise
     Wolf
     Woolsey
     Wu
     Wynn
     Young (AK)
     Young (FL)

                        ANSWERED ``PRESENT''--6

     Bateman
     Hutchinson
     Kelly
     Lowey
     Mollohan
     Sanford

                             NOT VOTING--24

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Boucher
     Brown (FL)
     Callahan
     Campbell
     Clay
     Danner
     DeLay
     Dooley
     Franks (NJ)
     Largent
     LoBiondo
     Martinez
     McCarthy (NY)
     McCollum
     McIntosh
     McNulty
     Norwood
     Nussle
     Slaughter
     Stupak
     Udall (NM)
     Vento

                              {time}  1146

  Mrs. KELLY changed her vote from ``yea'' to ``present.''
  So (two-thirds having voted in favor thereof), the rules were 
suspended and the concurrent resolution was agreed to.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
  Stated for:
  Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained on business 
and unable to be present for rollcall vote No. 183. Had I been present, 
I would have voted ``yes'' on rollcall vote No. 183.
  (Mr. DINGELL asked and was given permission to speak out of order for 
5 minutes.)

                          ____________________