Domenici, Bingaman Secure $200 Million to Help Fight Fires During Record Wild Fire Season
September 22, 2006
04:53 PM
WASHINGTON – The conference report for the 2007 Defense Appropriations Bill includes a Bingaman-Domenici measure to provide $100 million each to the Forest Service and Department of the Interior for fire suppression -- for a total of $200 million. The agencies recently exhausted all of the funds in their firefighting budget.
Chairman Domenici’s statement:
“Across the nation, this has been a bad wildfire season, made worse by the fact that so many funds have been diverted to help the Gulf region recover. This money is absolutely necessary to deal with what has happened so far, and what is still to come. As part of the Senate team that put together the final Defense Appropriations Bill, I fought for this amendment, and I’m pleased that $200 million will be provided.”
Ranking Member Bingaman’s statement:
“This has been a long and difficult fire season, and it’s not over yet. This additional funding will allow federal agencies to continue fighting fires in the West without raiding other accounts and delaying key forest initiatives in our state and elsewhere.”
The amendment was sponsored by Bingaman and cosponsored by Domenici, a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. The Defense Appropriations Bill could be approved by Congress and sent to the president as soon as next week.
