Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Getty Images photos: David McNew and George Rose
The House-passed forest management bill increasingly looks as if it has a path to becoming law.
Why it matters: Backers have framed the Fix Our Forests Act as a way to respond to the devastating California wildfires by speeding up management activities and creating programs to mitigate wildland blazes.
State of play: A Senate Agriculture subcommittee held a hearing on the legislation Thursday morning.
- House Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman, the lead sponsor with Rep. Scott Peters, predicted the bill is "bipartisan enough that it could get out of the committee and get on the Senate floor" as a standalone measure (it got 64 Dem votes in the House).
- "There's senators on both sides of the aisle that have been working on the language over here," he said.
Catch up quick: The bill would create categorical exemptions for forest thinning projects under the National Environmental Policy Act and limit endangered species consultations and litigation on fire management projects.
Yes, but: Democrats argue staff cuts at the Forest Service could undermine the bill's goals.
- Sen. Michael Bennet said he "appreciates" the bill but also raised concerns during the hearing that the legislation "ties the hands of local governments."
What we're watching: Republicans have sought to tie California wildfire aid to policy conditions.
- House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole told reporters this week that that could entail "making sure the reservoirs are full, making sure that we clean out brush — that kind of stuff."
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to show that the bill received 64 Democratic votes in the House (not 55).
