[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 7901]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   ENACT EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DICKS. Madam Speaker, on Wednesday of this week, the Interior 
Appropriations Subcommittee will be marking up our appropriations bill 
for FY 2001. I am very concerned about the fact that the emergency 
supplemental has not been enacted yet by the other body. In fact, I 
have written a letter to the distinguished majority leader asking that 
they take up this emergency supplemental as quickly as possible.
  We are now faced with an emergency situation in the area surrounding 
Los Alamos, New Mexico. We also have nine other wildfires, and I am 
told 67 forest fires raging nationally, many of them in the west, and 
the money for fighting these forest fires will run out, the emergency 
money will run out by the end of May, unless Congress enacts this 
supplemental.
  What we are asking for is $200 million for the Bureau of Land 
Management. The BLM does a great job of fighting the forest fires, 
along with the forest service; we are asking there for $150 million, or 
a total of $350 million.
  This year 2000 will probably be one of the worst forest fire years 
since 1994, and also 1999 was a year where we had many devastating 
fires as well. I want to compliment the majority in the House for 
having enacted the supplemental, but now it is been languishing for 
several weeks, if not months, over in the other body.
  Madam Speaker, this is a true emergency. I do not think we should be 
playing appropriations politics with this issue. We need to get this 
money out to the BLM so that they can run their emergency center out in 
Idaho, we need to get this money out to the Forest Service.
  Secretary Babbitt has written back in early April a very impassioned 
plea to the majority leader in the other body urging that this 
emergency supplemental be taken up as quickly as possible, and there 
really is not any excuse.
  Now, if they do not want to take up the entire emergency 
supplemental, one possible way to move forward would be to take out 
these two items. The money for the BLM, the $200 million and the $150 
million for the forest service, and pass that immediately, and then we 
can pass it here in the House, get it down to the President and take 
care of this situation.
  We cannot help but be sympathetic to see these people out in New 
Mexico, some 260 of them, who have lost their homes. They are living in 
schools and other areas. They need to know that the Federal Government 
is going to do everything it can to make sure that we have the 
resources to fight these fires and to go in and restore the ground and 
the areas that have been damaged.
  I think this is an emergency, a true emergency. I urge the leadership 
here in the House to meet with the leadership in the Senate and try to 
work out a way to get this money freed. I intend to offer these 
amendments as additions to the Interior Appropriations bill for 2001, 
hoping that maybe we can rush that bill through if it is the only way 
we can get action out of the other body. Again, I believe this an 
emergency. I think we need to act.

                          ____________________