[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 65 (Tuesday, April 14, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1733-S1734]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Wildfire Prevention

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to sound the 
alarm on a crisis that is a freight train speeding toward the Western 
United States in the form of what could be one of the worst wildfire 
seasons in modern history.
  I was home in Oregon this month where I received a fire briefing from 
officials in Southern Oregon. What I heard that day was just jaw-
dropping. Snowpack is at historic lows at home. Some parts of the State 
have less than 10 percent of their normal snowpack. Our beloved Crater 
Lake received its lowest snowpack in 100 years.
  At the time when snowpack should usually be peaking, it is completely 
gone less than a month into spring. Western States, including Oregon, 
were already suffering from horrendous drought, and now this year's 
record low snowfall is going to make it worse.
  Simply put, there is no water, and come summertime, Oregon is going 
to be like a tinderbox waiting to go up in flames. This is a recipe for 
disaster, but it has been made even worse by Donald Trump's failed 
leadership when it comes to preparing us to deal with wildfires. Last 
year, for example, DOGE took a sledgehammer to Federal wildfire 
programs.
  Between funding cuts that bullied Federal employees into taking early 
retirement and pressure campaigns to leave public service, it was a 
tough time. Mr. President, 1,400 qualified firefighters left the Forest 
Service in the first year of the Trump Presidency.
  These are known as red card holders. They might work in other areas 
of the Forest Service as technical support. They might work in 
administrative roles, but they are trained, qualified firefighters who 
can be called up in particularly bad years. That is this one.
  And to make matters worse, firefighting personnel were caught in the 
crosshairs of Trump and Vance's immigration agenda of chaos and 
cruelty. While immigrants put their lives on the line to battle fires, 
Trump's immigration enforcement officers were actually arresting them 
and removing them from the fire line. Let me repeat that so there is no 
confusion: arresting firefighters in the middle of fighting fires--the 
safety of our communities be damned as long as Donald Trump gets a FOX 
News segment. These are immigrants who chose to put their lives on the 
line to defend all of us. And how were they repaid? Donald Trump repaid 
them by arresting them on the frontlines and throwing them in detention 
centers while the fires were actually still raging.
  Locking up firefighters isn't an immigration agenda that makes us 
safer. It is so self-sabotaging, it makes your head spin.
  The fact is, Donald Trump has actually kneecapped the ability to 
reduce fire risks altogether. Thinning and prescribed fire are proven, 
science-backed tools to reduce the risk in the woods. Each year, during 
the colder months, hazardous fuel treatment is conducted to reduce the 
build up of fuels in our forests that act as kindling for fires during 
the summer.
  Last year, I asked the Trump administration for an update on how much 
treatment they had actually done in the woods. The Forest Service Chief 
confirmed to me in September that the administration's treatment levels 
were roughly a million acres below previous years.

[[Page S1734]]

  Just a few weeks later, Donald Trump plunged us into the longest 
government shutdown in the country's history. That put hazardous fuel 
treatment on hold and set treatment levels back even more.
  Now, last week, I got another letter from the Chief confirming the 
current treatment levels remain significantly behind their levels at 
the end of 2024.
  So the administration wants to call this a win, saying they almost 
met their treatment goals. Here is some breaking news for Donald Trump: 
It is easy to do a victory lap about your achievements when you set the 
bar on the floor.
  So here is the current lay of the land: Hazardous fuel treatment 
levels are down millions of acres. The Forest Service is still down 
1,400 firefighters and countless other employees. Budget cuts have yet 
to be restored. Oregon and the rest of the West have massive fuels 
buildup in our forests and no water.
  So what are Donald Trump and his assistants doing? It sure isn't 
staffing up the Forest Service with qualified firefighters.
  It is not making sure States have enough money to prepare for the 
blazes to come.
  It is not keeping up our forests to reduce fire risks.
  It sure as hell isn't funding FEMA, the Agency that plays a critical 
role in helping our communities recover from wildfires and remains 
mostly shut down under the failed leadership of Donald Trump. In fact, 
Donald Trump has so slashed staffing at FEMA, cutting the Agency's 
ability to respond to emergencies, that we are concerned about the days 
ahead after watching what happened with the floods in Texas Hill 
Country last summer.
  Donald Trump is play-acting as a dictator, starting illegal wars in 
the Middle East. And now he wants Congress to give him $200 billion so 
that he can keep bombing Iran.
  I am going to wrap up by saying it this way: Let's use that $200 
billion here at home. Let's use it to manage the forests.
  You should know that the picture that I have painted of my State also 
looks like it is going to affect something like two-thirds of the West, 
and I know my colleague is interested in following that.
  We should be reducing the risk of fires that burn down homes and 
livelihoods. Let's use the money that Donald Trump wants to put into 
the war to hire and pay the courageous firefighters that put their 
lives on the line every year, lives that we always care about, 
especially because they are protecting our communities.
  True to form, Donald Trump always finds a way to make things worse. 
Just last week, in the midst of the brewing catastrophe I have 
described, Donald Trump announced he is going to dismantle the U.S. 
Forest Service. At my 11 townhall meetings across the State here over 
the break, I heard about this recently.
  The Agency is the one that is in charge of preparing for and fighting 
wildfires, and Donald Trump is doing away with existing experts and 
authorities from the region to, no doubt, be replaced with people who 
will do his own bidding.
  So Donald Trump defunded 57 research stations dedicated to 
researching the impact of drought and forest management on wildfire 
risk. The administration called it a harmless reorganization.
  Anybody with a pulse can see this for what it really is: an 
intentional stunt to kneecap firefighting capabilities and leave 
Oregonians literally in the line of fire.
  Come summertime when these blazes are strong, the Forest Service will 
be in complete upheaval, too busy rearranging offices and desk chairs 
to fight fires. I guess that is what Donald Trump intended in the first 
place.
  This is like needing open-heart surgery, and a few weeks before your 
operation, learning that the hospital has replaced your heart surgeon 
with Hannibal Lecter.
  It is another casualty of the Trump crusade to sell off our forests 
and public lands to billionaires and corporations.
  The bottom line, Mr. President--and you and I have talked about 
this--public lands are just that, they are public. Once you sell them 
off, you can't get them back.
  Donald Trump doesn't care as long as his billionaire buddies and the 
Epstein class get to build their own personal resorts.
  I will close with this. Donald Trump campaigned on cheaper eggs and 
lower gas prices. Instead, aided and abetted by Republicans in the 
Congress, he is doing everything to drive up costs and, as I am 
pointing out with respect to the West, making Americans less safe. 
Winners under the Trump Presidency are the people at the very top, the 
corporations and the Epstein class. He sure as hell isn't looking out 
for the working people who feel like they are getting pushed off an 
economic tightrope.
  When our communities are ablaze this summer, there is going to be no 
time to waste, no time to wait for the training of new firefighters 
because Donald Trump fired everybody who was qualified, no time to do 
fire risk reduction work. Donald Trump has set Western States up for 
failure this fire season, and I very, very much fear the outcome in the 
West will be catastrophic.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip.

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