[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 13326-13328]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     RESILIENT FEDERAL FORESTS ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2015, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. 
Westerman) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to talk about something 
that is positive that this body has done recently, something that is 
good for America and something that is good for our environment and 
good for our citizens. What I am talking about is the passage of the 
Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2015.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill is good for trees. When we have healthy trees 
and when we have a healthy forest, then we also have better air 
quality; we have better water quality; we have better wildlife habitat; 
we have less fire danger; we protect private property and public 
property, and it is a win-win-win situation for our treasured natural 
resource of our Federal forest. It is a winning situation for America, 
as we are good stewards and we conserve this valuable resource that we 
have.
  Now, what this bill does is it allows us to actively manage our 
forests. We have qualified personnel in our Forest Service, people who 
are trained as foresters, people who have the expertise and the 
experience to manage these forests in a sustainable way; yet our forest 
managers' hands have been tied in previous years.
  They have been working hard with local constituents, local 
stakeholders in these collaborative efforts to come up with forest 
plans, forest management plans, so that they can manage the forests in 
a way that is good for the local economy, in a way that is good for the 
wildlife in the forest, in a way that is good for the health of the 
forest; yet these forest management plans have been held up through 
frivolous lawsuits from outside groups, sometimes as far as a thousand 
miles away that file a suit against these plans.
  They hold them up in court, and at the end of the day, the forest is 
not managed properly. Because of this, we have seen an increasing 
amount of forest fires over the past several decades.
  Because of these increased forest fires, we are destroying our 
valuable natural resource. Not only are we destroying our resource, we 
are destroying our budget for the Forest Service. Currently, the single 
greatest cost to the Forest Service is fire suppression, and the next 
cost is litigation, and where the cost should be, in the management and 
health of the forest, comes in third.
  What the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2015 would do, it would 
take the focus off of fire suppression and put that focus on fire 
prevention. These are forestry practices that I have seen carried out 
in my home State of Arkansas.
  In my district, the Fourth District, I have approximately 2.5 million 
acres of Federal forest inside my district, on the Ouachita National 
Forest, on the Ozark National Forest, and also in four different U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife service areas.
  Fortunately, in Arkansas, we have been able to manage these forests 
in a way that is good for the forest. A lot of this was done in an 
effort to protect an endangered species, the red-cockaded woodpecker. 
What our Forest Service employees have done is they have gone into the 
forests, they have assessed it, and they determined what would create 
the best habitat for this endangered species. They found that a habitat 
with an open understory, one which has large nesting trees for the 
woodpecker, is great habitat for the woodpecker.
  They implemented a plan to go in and thin the forest--not clear-cut 
it, but thin it--and then develop a fire regime to keep the underbrush 
out. You might think that thinning the forest and burning the forest 
would cause a decrease in biodiversity, but our foresters saw something 
quite the opposite. Our forests in Arkansas were much like the ones 
across the country, many forests out West. They had been cut as much as 
a century ago and allowed just to grow back with the only management 
being putting the fires out when they start.
  What happens in a situation like this is forests are dynamic; they 
continue to grow until they fill up all the growing space, and then 
they start competing with one another. When they compete with one 
another, they get weak; they are subject to insect and disease attack.
  You get more fuel that falls on to the forest floor, creating a fuel 
load; you get dead and weakened timber, and you get a lightning strike, 
and it burns the whole forest down.
  When you manage the forest, when you thin it and you use controlled 
burns, you open up the canopy; you open up the forest floor, and you 
see a flush of fauna, and you see biodiversity increase tremendously.
  At the same time as the biodiversity and plant life increases, you 
get a flush in wildlife. On these plots in Arkansas, not only did we 
see an increase in numbers in red-cockaded woodpecker, we saw an 
increase in the bobwhite quail, in wild turkeys, in deer, in several 
other songbird species.
  This management scheme is good for the forest; it is good for the 
wildlife; it creates cleaner air; it creates cleaner water. Again, it 
is a win-win situation. By applying these management practices--and 
they will be different as you go across the country in different 
regions.
  As we let the local professionals and the local stakeholders manage 
the forests the way it was intended to be managed, we will create a 
healthy forest, which is good for all the local communities where these 
forests are located.
  Another thing that we have done in this bill is we strengthened the 
secure rural schools provisions. We stipulate that 25 percent of 
funding has to go into local counties to provide emergency services to 
fund schools. This is critical for these local communities where forest 
activities around the national forests have greatly decreased over the 
past several decades.
  We used to cut nearly 12 billion board feet of timber off of the 
forests. Now, we are down to less than 3 billion board feet per year. 
Many of these local economies depended on those forests. As we quit 
cutting timber and the infrastructure to process the timber left, these 
communities suffered all across our country where these natural forests 
are located.
  This bill will allow funding to go to these communities, so that they 
continue to provide emergency services, so they can continue to provide 
funds for education and help to grow the communities.
  Another provision in this bill is it allows the salvaging of timber 
after a catastrophic event. Now, a clear cut actually mimics a wildfire 
in the forest; so when you have a wildfire that is a stand-replacing 
fire, it causes the damage when the fire occurs.
  In forestry terms, the land is essentially being clear-cut when the 
fire happens, but you will still have dead standing trees. These trees 
need to be salvaged. They have value, value that can be extracted and 
used to reforest the land, value that not only creates value in 
reforestation, it also cleans up the land, so you can reforest it and 
prevent future fire dangers.
  What has happened in the past is the salvage cuts have been held up 
in court again, and you get standing dead timber that, the next time a 
fire comes through, it makes it dangerous for our firefighters to go in 
and fight the fire.
  What this bill does is it still requires an environmental assessment 
of the area, but it speeds the process in that, and it prevents 
injunctions from allowing these salvage cuts so that this timber can be 
salvaged, and the revenue is used to go back into the Forest Service to 
reforest these lands and, again, provide the management practices to 
have healthy forests.
  What happens now is we see, after a catastrophic event, we get only 3 
percent of regeneration or reforestation of the land. This bill 
requires that, after the catastrophic event, we have to have 75 percent 
reforestation after a period of 5 years.
  The 5-year timeframe gives foresters time to come in and assess the 
efforts that they put forth and to correct any problems that they have 
had in restoring these forests.

[[Page 13327]]

  This bill, again, is very critical and very much needed. It has the 
support of, I believe, 117 different organizations, from wildlife 
groups, from environmental groups, many tribes across the country, many 
county governments. People recognize the benefits of this bill and the 
benefits that can come to our country if we enact this legislation.
  Unfortunately, the bill is held up in the Senate right now, and as 
the fire season increases out West and we see more and more of our 
natural treasure and our Federal forests going up in flames, it should 
become more imperative for the Senate to take up this bill and pass it 
and for the President to sign it into law.
  As I have stated in committee hearings when we were pushing this bill 
through, the forests don't really pay attention to what we legislate 
here in Washington, D.C.

                              {time}  2000

  They are dynamic, living organisms. They continue to grow. They 
continue to fill up the growing space. They are more reactive to what 
happens in nature.
  We need to be proactive in managing these forests--managing them to 
be healthy, managing them to be more resistant to wildfire and inspects 
and diseases. I call on the Senate and the President to take up this 
legislation, to pass it, and to move America forward with healthy 
forests.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Newhouse).


                       Recognizing Makenna Schwab

  Mr. NEWHOUSE. Mr. Speaker, I have got something I think is very 
important and something I think you are going to enjoy.
  Sometimes we learn about some very remarkable people, individuals 
who, when we hear about them, make us pause, stop, and think about how 
much they inspire and really make a difference.
  Today, I want to recognize one such person, a young lady of 12 years 
old by the name of Makenna Schwab. She lives in the community of East 
Wenatchee, Washington, which happens to be in my legislative district 
in the State of Washington.
  Makenna was born with something called Larsen syndrome, which is a 
rare connective tissue disorder that causes bone dislocations. This 
affects her airway, spine, and joints. This remarkable young lady has 
already undergone 14 surgeries in her short life.
  Four years ago, Makenna and her mother, Melissa, wanted to give 
something back to Seattle Children's Hospital, which over the course of 
her life has been their home away from home. She said she wanted to 
give something back because Seattle Children's has made it so that she 
can walk and live independently. So she decided to sell lemonade and 
cookies, a perfectly natural thing for a 12-year-old to decide. This 
young lady raised more than $6,700 that year for Children's Hospital.
  The family knew they could do more. They wanted to do more. So the 
next year, she and her family collected over 650 new toys for the kids 
at the hospital. But even that wasn't enough. The following year, she 
wanted to do even more. So she sold 530 dozen donuts, raising more than 
$7,500 to go towards Seattle Children's Hospital.
  This year, Mr. Speaker, she set her sights even higher. According to 
Seattle Children's Hospital's Kathryn Bluher, Makenna's goal was to 
give the kids at the hospital something that was very important, near 
and dear to her heart. She wanted to give them red Radio Flyer wagons.
  I know you are smiling, Mr. Speaker, but that was an important thing 
because, in between her appointments throughout her young life, 
traveling between her room to the operating room to the playroom, the 
red Radio Flyer wagon was her ride. And she rode in style. She said 
that those wagons are a really good memory. They were less scary than a 
wheelchair.
  The support that she got to reach her goal in this year's fundraising 
I think was nothing short of amazing. Makenna collected enough to 
purchase 33 wagons for the hospital. Friends, family, the mayor of the 
city, Wenatchee High School, a group of local dentists, even assisted 
living homes helped in the effort. The whole community pitched in. 
Actually, the hospital had to tell her that that was enough wagons.
  She moved on to other things that were on the wish list. By the end 
of the drive, she had those 33 wagons, but she also had 36 DVD players, 
12 headphones, five baby swings, 280 gift cards, 300 new toys, and many 
other things.
  Makenna and her family have started a tradition that will live on, 
that has and will continue to make kids' stay at the Seattle Children's 
Hospital just a little less scary. As Makenna said, ``I want to give 
kids hope.''
  Well, in May, and very deservedly so, Makenna received a national 
Make a Difference Day award for her volunteer project on behalf of the 
hospital.
  As I told you before, sometimes you hear of remarkable people, and I 
am very proud to be able to share McKenna's story with you. I am proud 
to say that she is a fine citizen of my congressional district and my 
State of Washington.
  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire how much time I have 
remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 14 minutes remaining.


  Increasing VA Accountability and Expanding Opportunity for Veterans

  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to talk about some 
other positive things that this body has done here, as we approach the 
August break. This has to do with the VA.
  Since the wait list manipulation scandal was brought to the public's 
attention last year, Americans have become all too familiar with 
incompetence and misconduct at the Federal agency charged with helping 
our veterans.
  The House Veterans' Affairs Committee has held dozens of hearings; 
the head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs resigned under 
congressional pressure; and Congress has enacted major reform 
legislation.
  The Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and 
Transparency Act created a 3-year program to allow veterans to seek 
care from private providers if they live too far from a VA facility or 
cannot otherwise get an appointment within 14 days. It also gave the VA 
Secretary the authority to fire senior executives for poor performance 
and required a top-to-bottom study of the entire Department to be 
completed within 1 year of enactment.
  However, even with this oversight, the Obama administration has 
failed to correct the problems. We continue to hear about unacceptable 
patient wait times, unanswered benefit inquiries, patient safety 
concerns, medical malpractice, flagrant mismanagement, infighting, 
corruption, and years of construction delays that total millions of 
dollars.
  When government failure is exposed and legislation aimed at restoring 
accountability is enacted, it makes sense that action would be swift 
and immediate: people would be fired; wrongs would begin to be made 
right. Unfortunately, that has not been the case at the Department of 
Veterans Affairs. While there are as many as 1,000 employees that could 
potentially face disciplinary actions, the VA has only fired three 
people for involvement in the scandal.
  Our veterans have earned our respect, and they shouldn't have to wait 
in line for months or years just to see a doctor. New documents show 
that one out of every three waiting for care at the VA has already 
died, and recent reports reveal there are now 50 percent more veterans 
on wait lists for a month or longer than last summer.
  When our brave servicemembers come home, we have to keep our word to 
them by modernizing our VA system to deliver the best care in the 
world. In the 114th Congress, House Republicans have passed numerous 
pieces of legislation designed to help veterans and increase 
accountability at the VA.
  In February, the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans 
Act was signed into law and provides veterans with access to the mental 
healthcare resources they need.
  Last week, the House passed the Veterans Information Modernization 
Act,

[[Page 13328]]

which would give Congress and the public access to key data regarding 
the delivery of health care, medical services, and nursing home care by 
the VA healthcare system.
  Many veterans have contacted us expressing their frustration at 
having to carry official Department of Defense discharge papers to 
prove their military service, and last week, legislation was signed 
into law to create an official identification card for veterans.
  Just this week, we have passed the VA Accountability Act, which would 
provide the VA Secretary with increased flexibility in removing 
employees who fail our veterans; the Hire More Heroes Act, which would 
make it easier to hire veterans by exempting those who already have 
health insurance from being counted as full-time employees under 
ObamaCare; the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act, 
which would provide an annual cost-of-living adjustment for veterans 
receiving disability compensation; and the Ruth Moore Act, which would 
update regulations for veterans seeking financial compensation for 
mental health conditions linked to sexual assault while they were 
serving in the military.
  The House also had to pass legislation that included provisions to 
allow the VA to transfer funds within its budget to cover an unexpected 
$2.5 billion shortfall in hospital and medical care accounts. Without 
this fix, the agency said it would start shutting down hospital 
operations in August.
  It is critically important that we take care of those who have 
sacrificed so much in service to our country. This week, Congress has 
continued its efforts to meet our responsibility to America's veterans. 
However, we cannot transform the VA alone. It is the President's 
responsibility to ensure changes are made within the agency and 
employees are held accountable for their actions.
  America's veterans deserve a meaningful, decisive plan to right the 
many wrongs that have been committed. It is past time for the Obama 
administration to change the culture at the VA and end this agencywide 
pattern of misconduct and neglect.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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