Hi Utah,
In case you missed it, this week I announced my plans to walk 250 consecutive miles for America’s 250th anniversary, starting next week. More on that below. But another high was seeing progress on one of my top priorities in the Senate: addressing wildfires.
I’ve talked a lot about the Fix Our Forests Act, a major piece of bipartisan legislation focused on proactive forest management to reduce catastrophic wildfires before they start. We’re gaining real momentum on that bill, and I’m hopeful we can get it passed soon.
Additionally, I introduced commonsense legislation with a bipartisan group of Western colleagues that delivers a bit of a double whammy: it strengthens drinking water infrastructure while also improving wildfire preparedness in the rural communities at greatest risk. And earlier we also put forward a bill that would better protect and compensate federal firefighters by providing dedicated rest and recuperation leave following extended deployments to major wildfire incidents.
For my low, while I would like to say that we aren’t as dysfunctional in Congress as you might think, this week has been particularly frustrating. Last week, my low was that we didn’t pass a FISA bill, and, well, that still hasn’t happened. We were on a good path, but a few wrenches were thrown into the works this week, and frankly, it’s caused a lot of gripes and dysfunction around here.
Have a great weekend.
Menu