[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19474]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES

  (Mr. WESTERMAN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to plead on behalf of our 
country for immediate Senate action on the Resilient Federal Forests 
Act of 2017. The House passed this bipartisan bill on November 1, 
following a record wildfire season with millions of acres going up in 
smoke and ash.
  Just this week, fires have flared up again in southern California 
with more than 110,000 acres currently burning and more than 200,000 
individuals forced from their homes. Many schools are closed, residents 
hundreds of miles away are advised to stay indoors to avoid the smoke, 
and, more urgently, lives and property are at risk across Los Angeles 
and Ventura Counties.
  The time for the Senate to act was 2 years ago when they failed to 
act on similar legislation. We can't afford for the Senate to continue 
to do nothing. Pass the Resilient Federal Forests Act. Give the Forest 
Service the tools it needs to prevent and combat catastrophic 
wildfires. Fires are raging, lives are in danger, and the situation 
will get worse in the future if the Senate continues to fail to act.

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