Biden Wildfire Scorecard No. 3
The Agriculture Secretary oversees a $146 billion annual budget. Most of it – 65 percent - is allocated to food and nutrition programs that target the needy. Five percent goes to “forestry,” mainly the U.S. Forest Service and mostly – about 55 percent – to battle forest fires.
With President Biden’s climate change agenda on a collision course with the West’s wildfire pandemic, I can only imagine that the President has Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, on speed dial from the Oval Office.
The Agriculture Secretary oversees a $146 billion annual budget. Most of it – 65 percent - is allocated to food and nutrition programs that target the needy. Five percent goes to “forestry,” mainly the U.S. Forest Service and mostly – about 55 percent – to battle forest fires.
The shrinking remainder of the Forest Service’s shriveling $5.345 billion budget goes to the management side where, theoretically at least, it is used to address the underlying causes of the wildfire pandemic that is sweeping the West. About $510 million.
The President must have been horrified by the latest Congressional Research Service wildfire statistics published January 4. Given that the U.S. Forest Service is part of Secretary Vilsack’s kingdom, he surely drew the short straw when it came time to deliver the bad news. The conversation probably went something like this:
Secretary Vilsack: Good afternoon, Mr. President. Thanks for fitting me into your busy schedule. I know you have a lot on…