Senator John Curtis (R-UT) and Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) appeared on PBS NewsHour to discuss their bipartisan Fix Our Forests Act. The bill aims to address catastrophic wildfires, improve forest management, and promote collaboration among federal agencies, states, tribes, and private groups.
During the segment, both senators highlighted the need for a comprehensive approach to wildfire prevention and response. Curtis stated, “The beauty of the bill is it is not just focused on one thing. It’s focused on everything — from starting early to prevent them, to deal with them while they’re happening, and also deal with them afterwards.” He also noted challenges in agency coordination: “One of the problems we’ve had is interagency coordination… This bill addresses that and tries to get us out of our silos so that we’re actually working together and pulling in the same direction.”
Curtis discussed fiscal responsibility in federal funding for wildfire management. “If we’re successful in what we’re doing, we’ll save the taxpayers massive amounts of money,” he said. He added, “We have asked for all the appropriations needed… and still stayed within the limits that we’re trying to target financially.”
The senators emphasized keeping politics out of disaster response. According to Curtis, “We’ve tried to build a bill that will last through many administrations — whether they’re Republican or Democrat.”
Addressing environmental changes contributing to wildfires, Curtis remarked: “We all know that it is drier and less rain and less moisture than we’ve had before. We all know that the seasons are longer and hotter. That is not a debatable thing.”
On transparency issues related to government files about Jeffrey Epstein, Curtis commented: “This isn’t only a Trump administration issue. All of these files existed with the previous administration, and they also chose not to release them.” He continued: “This really points out how desperate the American people are for transparency… Let’s give the American people some transparency.” He concluded on this topic by saying: “Let’s also not make this a major distraction. We have important things to do… I think we can do both.”
The conversation included reflections on bipartisanship in Congress. Curtis said: “Let’s begin with realizing that [other Senator’s] they’re genuine and they see things differently than I do. And just because they’re different, it doesn’t mean that they’re not genuine.” He added: “Compromise gets a bad rap… If we can sit down and find those areas of intersection where we actually agree, that’s a different kind of compromise — and in my experience, is the best work.”
Curtis closed by highlighting shared goals between parties through their legislation: “Fix Our Forests is a really good example of where I don’t think either one of us feel like we have abandoned our principles — but we actually found some areas of overlap that are really important to this country and to our constituents.”
The full interview can be viewed at https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/senators-highlight-importance-of-working-across-the-aisle-in-mission-to-fight-wildfires.
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