[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 63 (Tuesday, April 8, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H1502-H1504]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                CUTS TO FOREST SERVICE ENDANGER MILLIONS

  (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Ms. Schrier 
of Washington was recognized for 30 minutes.)


                             General Leave

  Ms. SCHRIER. 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.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Washington?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. SCHRIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my frustration and 
outrage with the Trump administration's reckless cuts to our Forest 
Service.
  The workforce that takes care of our forests, harvests timber, and 
makes them resilient to wildfires is treasured in my State of 
Washington and, I would say, in the entire Western United States. Cuts 
to this workforce endanger my constituents, endanger millions of 
Americans, and put our forests at high risk of catastrophic wildfires.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Whitesides).
  Mr. WHITESIDES. Mr. Speaker, my name is George Whitesides, and I 
represent California's 27th Congressional District.
  Just 3 days after I was sworn in to Congress to serve my first term 
this year, wildfires broke out across southern California, forcing 
200,000 people to evacuate, burning over 57,000 acres of land, damaging 
or destroying 18,000 homes, and taking the lives of 30 individuals.
  Two weeks later, the Hughes fire erupted in my own district near 
Castaic, right near where this picture behind me was taken. It forced 
over 30,000 people to evacuate.
  Compared to most, we were relatively lucky. Given wind conditions and 
the brave work of our firefighters, many of whom were employed by the 
U.S. Forest Service, the fire was quickly contained.
  As southern California began to emerge from the devastation and focus 
on rebuilding, firefighters and other fire service workers with the 
U.S. Forest Service were abruptly terminated by the Trump 
administration. Days or weeks after saving our lives, they were left 
out to dry with no explanation.
  One of these employees in my own district was Jasmin Dominguez, a GIS 
technician, who literally mapped out the fires as they spread. I 
brought Jasmin as my guest to the State of the Union where we talked 
about how difficult it would be for local fire chiefs to control the 
fires without the maps that she provided.
  Now, we are preparing to go into another bad fire season. People are 
scared. If you look at the conditions on the ground in the American 
West, they are very concerning. Fire scientists are concerned. 
Firefighters are concerned. Between the January fires and the extreme 
dryness that we have experienced this winter, we are poised to 
experience earlier and more intense wildfires than before.
  The worst thing that we could do for our communities that have 
already suffered so much is to reduce our capacity to fight and contain 
these fires when, not if, they occur.
  The unconscionable and, frankly, offensive decision to terminate our 
Forest Service workers will make us less safe and more vulnerable to 
the natural disasters that we are guaranteed to experience.
  The administration may claim that firefighters were exempt from their 
cuts, but we know this is not true. I am in constant communication with 
Federal wildfire community members, and here is what they tell me. 
Their grants have been frozen; existing agreements with the Federal 
Government, frozen; purchasing cards that they use to buy lifesaving 
equipment, frozen.
  Hiring for fire season is often cyclical, meaning the Trump 
administration's earlier decision to freeze Federal hiring left even 
our local fire stations understaffed and unprepared for the fire season 
that has already started.
  For the safety of the families and the individuals across all of our 
districts, and for the brave work that so many of these Forest Service 
employees do every day, we must speak out against these unfair 
terminations.
  To every Forest Service worker who is laid off and for everyone 
preparing to undergo even more of these so-called reductions in 
workforce, know that we hear you, are with you, and are fighting for 
you.
  Ms. SCHRIER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to echo some of those comments 
because I am also in the West, in Washington State, and we are seeing 
the risk of catastrophic wildfires increasing every year.
  Because all of this is being done under the guise of DOGE, the 
Department of Government Efficiency, let me be clear that we all want 
our tax dollars to be spent wisely.
  Let me also be clear that the people in the Eighth District of 
Washington State think it is a super wise investment to invest in our 
Forest Service that will thin the forest, prevent catastrophic 
wildfires, and then fight catastrophic wildfires when they occur.
  I would say, and my constituents would also say because we all choke 
on smoke every summer, that this is not a time to cut the Forest 
Service. In fact, it is a time to hire up at the Forest Service because 
we need them more than ever right now.
  We need them for fighting fires as I discussed, for maintaining our 
forests, but also for supporting recreation, maintaining roads and 
trails, and producing timber that we all need for affordable housing, 
and for water restoration, watershed restoration, and more.
  We have heard from the administration that firefighters were exempt 
from the cuts, but here is the thing: About 75 percent of the people 
who were cut had firefighting training. In fact, they may have had 
different titles, but they had something called red cards, which meant 
they were ready, firefighting trained, and they leapt into action 
whenever wildland firefighters needed their help to work side by side 
with them. They are really indispensable employees.
  I also want to say that the people who we are losing, many of them 
have had years of experience. They choose to work for the Forest 
Service, for the Federal Government, because of their passion for 
taking care of our public lands. They are talented. They are critical. 
They are experienced. They

[[Page H1503]]

choose to do this, frankly, for lower salaries simply because they want 
to serve. These are civil servants.
  We are losing these really talented and critical staff through 
layoffs. Now, with the uncertainty, we are seeing early retirements. 
Frankly, given the disrespect and uncertainty, and now the impossible 
workload, can you imagine taking on all of the workload of your 
colleagues? Why would they stay? This is a very tough time to work for 
the Federal Government, especially in these dangerous jobs.
  I am so fortunate to represent Washington's Eighth Congressional 
District. We have some of the most stunning nature in the country. In 
fact, we have the North Cascades National Park, Mount Rainier National 
Park, and two national forests stretching over 2 million acres. That is 
a fifth of the national forest, approximately 10 million acres in 
Washington State.
  The U.S. Forest Service manages these public lands. We also have 
agreements and rely on relationships between Federal, State, and Tribal 
organizations and governments to manage our public land. When you cut 
Federal staffing, it really has ripple effects and leaves State, 
Tribal, and local governments lacking.
  I want to express gratitude to U.S. Forest Service staff because they 
are also keeping our cherished public lands accessible for outdoor 
recreation.
  Mr. Speaker, I don't know if you have ever been to Washington State. 
If you have, you will know that outdoor recreation is our pride and joy 
and is what sustains us. Those beautiful springs and summers, that is 
what sustains us when we have the rainy fall and winter.
  We have already seen some of these outdoor trail accesses closed. In 
fact, there is one called the Denny Creek Trailhead that has 
experienced closures due to these staffing shortages, and that is only 
going to be worse as we head into outdoor recreation season.
  Again, I have mentioned already the role that the Forest Service 
plays in wildfire mitigation; that is, thinning the forest, doing 
prescribed burns, doing the work that will prevent catastrophic 
wildfires.
  In my district, Fire Chief David Walker says the Forest Service is 
the primary firefighting force for something called the Lake Wenatchee 
area. It is a favorite vacation spot for Washington families.

  When you gut the Forest Service's fire response operation, that means 
you are taking away public safety. You are taking away safety from the 
people who are camping in the Lake Wenatchee area.
  Mitigating risk in our forest has become ever more important with the 
increasing intensity of wildfires and the longer and longer wildfire 
season throughout the West.
  In our State, we used to see wildfires mostly in the dry part of the 
State, east of the Cascade Mountains. Now, we see it in the entire 
State.
  We have seen devastating fires in recent years. In fact, six of the 
highest risk fire sheds in the entire country are in my district.
  Now is the time to strengthen our wildfire mitigation efforts, not 
kneecap the agency that is responsible for maintaining forest health. 
Firing support staff involved in wildfire response or mitigation does 
just as much harm as firing those that we think of as being on the 
front lines. They work together.
  I also want to mention, imagine if you were a firefighter depending 
on that support staff to tell you when the weather conditions change, 
when the winds are shifting, because that matters for your own survival 
as you are fighting these fires. The support staff is every bit as 
important.
  We are anticipating there to be further staffing cuts right before 
wildfire season kicks into gear, and these reduction-in-force plans are 
being made with little forethought and no agency engagement. We are 
seeing the arbitrary firing of probationary employees in every agency 
and then struggling to rehire them because they have cut HR.
  This administration is not getting the message that every carpenter 
in my district knows: Measure twice, cut once. Figure out where it 
makes sense to make cuts before making those cuts. This is not 
efficiency. This is actually the opposite.
  There are many roles that the Forest Service plays in research. They 
research how to fight pestilence that weakens our trees. They research 
which varieties of trees will survive best in fire. They also do 
research into which of these fire-prone areas is the most at risk so 
that they can treat those areas first.
  I want to emphasize how important these Forest Service employees are 
to our district, the entire West, and, frankly, the entire country.

                              {time}  1830

  Mr. Speaker, I am going to talk a little bit in a moment about our 
Forest Service employees, some that I have spoken with since they were 
let go. First, I yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Carson) to 
speak about Forest Service cuts.
  Mr. CARSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Schrier for her 
leadership, her friendship, and for being an advocate on behalf of her 
constituents.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to demand answers on the recent funding and 
staff cuts to the U.S. Forest Service. Last week, I led a letter to the 
administration urging a reversal of these shortsighted decisions. We 
are still waiting for a response.
  In my district, a wonderful, nonpartisan organization called Keep 
Indianapolis Beautiful has helped people and nature thrive. They work 
with local government, businesses, community groups, and schools to 
plant trees, clean up litter, and transform vacant lots into vibrant 
community green spaces.
  Mr. Speaker, they work so hard. Their work makes our neighborhoods 
healthier, safer, and more connected, but this administration 
terminated grants that made this great work possible. It appears that 
DOGE has flagged words like ``equity'' and ``diversity'' in grant 
applications even when it is biodiversity and tree equity. That is just 
not bureaucratic overreach, it is absurd.
  Tree equity is the idea that every neighborhood deserves trees. 
Without them, underserved areas become heat islands--trapping heat, 
raising energy bills, and degrading quality of life. This is not 
theory. It is science.
  Investing in greener, healthier neighborhoods benefits Hoosiers and 
Americans. These cuts undermine that very goal.
  I urge the USDA to reverse its course, and I call on our colleagues 
to join us in demanding the restoration of these critical investments 
in our communities.
  Ms. SCHRIER. Mr. Speaker, I will tell you something about the town of 
Roslyn in my district. It is a small town, completely surrounded by 
forest, and this forest is at high risk for catastrophic wildfire. In 
fact, it was incredibly important to the residents of the town not only 
to firewise their own homes but to treat the forest around the city to 
protect it.
  I actually got to go out with nonprofits and Forest Service 
employees, use that drip torch myself and participate in prescribed 
fires in order to work to make sure that this area would not go up in 
flames and threaten the entire city. It is this sort of work that some 
of the employees in my district who were fired were doing. They were 
protecting homes and protecting lives. Then, after years in the 
Service, they were let go.
  I even have constituents, a husband and wife who both worked for the 
U.S. Forest Service. They were both let go. They both did that work and 
trail maintenance. They also protected people during snow season in 
snow parks. These are year-round, family-sustaining jobs, and these are 
people without whom we all suffer.
  There is another worker from my district who was fired who was 
actually working on harvesting timber. That timber is then sold and 
actually makes money for the Federal Government, but those workers were 
let go.
  I mean, that is not efficiency. It is definitely not saving taxpayer 
money. It is really beyond foolish, and it is emblematic of what this 
administration and Elon Musk have been doing. This is not government 
efficiency. It actually hampers the ability for the Forest Service to 
be efficient and to fulfill its mission.
  Taking a hatchet to these Federal agencies across the board, labeling 
probationary employees as if they are in

[[Page H1504]]

trouble for some reason, when really it just means they have been there 
devoting themselves to civil service for less than a year, only causes 
harm and disparages them. That is why I was so proud to lead a letter 
with my Washington colleagues calling for Forest Service terminations 
to be rescinded and for the administration to halt any further cuts.
  This has disproportionately hit Washington State. I will continue 
fighting for the employees in my district, for the people in my 
district, for Washington State to protect our forests, to fight these 
cuts, and to protect the U.S. Forest Service employees who have 
dedicated their lives to public service.
  Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Min).
  Mr. MIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge the Trump administration 
to consider reversing its reckless and dangerous terminations of Forest 
Service employees.
  I represent an area in Orange County that is prone to the same types 
of wildfire risks that we saw devastate Los Angeles not too long ago. 
We are about a month or two away from fire season. We have had a number 
of fires similar, but smaller in scope, to the one that just hit Los 
Angeles due to the Santa Ana winds that come through our area in 
southern California every year and also due to drier conditions because 
of climate change and droughts. We know that an ounce of prevention is 
worth a pound of cure, and so we need to have these types of resources 
in place.
  As wildfires grow more and more intense, as the risks of wildfire 
become more and more ubiquitous, our firefighters are tired. They are 
understaffed, underresourced, and underpaid. We need more funding to 
protect our communities from megafires. Instead, this administration is 
choosing to strip our key first responders in the U.S. Forest Service 
of resources that make millions of Americans safer, including the ones 
I represent in Orange County.
  Let's be clear, if we are looking for efficiency, this is the 
opposite of efficiency. There is nothing efficient about firing 
essential public safety officials right before fire season. These are 
the people we deploy to try to clear the brush. They are the first 
responders who alert our fire departments of early onset wildfires 
before they become deadly multibillion-dollar disasters. That is why we 
rehired so many of the very same people that DOGE tried to fire in the 
first place due to the inefficiency, the gross incompetence of Elon 
Musk and the people who are working with him.
  This administration is also lying about retaining employees to help 
fight fires on the ground. Around 75 percent of those who were let go 
had firefighting experience, and now we are having to rehire some of 
them. This is what happens when you have 21-year-old hackers named 
``Big Balls'' deciding how to cut our agencies as opposed to experts 
who know what they are doing. The incompetence of DOGE and Elon Musk is 
exposing Californians and millions of people around the country to 
unprecedented danger. We have to do something about it before it is too 
late.
  I urge Congress to intervene, reverse these cuts, and stop this 
administration from putting more Americans in harm's way.
  Ms. SCHRIER. Mr. Speaker, we have all talked about thinning forests, 
making them more resilient. We talked about the risk of catastrophic 
wildfire.
  We passed a big infrastructure bill a couple years ago, and part of 
that was not just protecting roads and bridges. It was also protecting 
our natural infrastructure because of its connection with our urban 
areas and the wildland-urban interface and more. That involved more 
management of our forests, more thinning of our forests. It required 
more hiring up of Forest Service staff, which really emphasizes the 
point my colleagues have made about how this is doing the exact 
opposite.
  I wanted to connect a couple other dots for you, just to really bring 
home this point. President Trump promised all along the campaign trail 
that he was going to bring down costs for the American people. These 
are costs at the grocery store, costs everywhere really.
  We could talk about tariffs, but what I really want to focus on, 
which is a big issue in my district and my State, is the cost of 
housing. Young people today cannot afford to buy a house. That means 
they are going to struggle to build their nest egg for retirement.
  One of the ways to bring down the cost of housing is to use that 8-
inch diameter or smaller timber that the Forest Service brings out of 
those national forests, mill those, turn it into cross-laminated 
timber, mass produce walls, roofs, and the building materials you need 
to build houses quickly and cheaply.
  You can do rezoning, permitting for land to use for housing, and then 
you can build houses quickly, starter houses, houses to just help young 
people get their piece of America, their safeguard for their 
retirement.
  However, this is doing the opposite. If we are not bringing the wood 
out of our forests, like the Forest Service employee I just told you 
about who lost her job, then we don't have that cross-laminated timber.
  What is happening now, we are going to rely on Canada for timber at, 
what, a 25 percent surcharge because of these tariffs? This is doing 
the opposite. It is not bringing costs down for American families. It 
is driving costs up to the tune of close to $4,000 per family across 
this country. This is damaging. Then you add on what is happening in 
the Forest Service, and it just drives up the cost of housing.
  Mr. Speaker, in closing, I first just extend my gratitude to the 
people who step up to serve our country, who work for the U.S. Forest 
Service, who protect our forests, protect our homes, protect us from 
choking on smoke all summer long, and now stretching into other 
seasons. I emphasize that it is important to use tax dollars wisely and 
to have an efficient government, but sometimes that means hiring up 
instead of firing. Certainly, indiscriminate firing is crazy, 
wrongheaded, and reckless. I once again object to these indiscriminate 
cuts, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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