Oregon Senator Leads Multi-State Effort to Undo Trump’s Wildfire Funding Cuts

A coalition of Western U.S. senators, led by Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley and New Mexico’s Senator Martin Heinrich, has sent a letter to the recently confirmed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Acting Agriculture Secretary Gary Washington calling for the immediate reversal of stop-work orders issued by the Bureau of Land Management.

Trump’s Oregon Wildfire Funding Cuts: Senators Call for Reversal

Highlighting the critical role wildfire management programs play in safeguarding communities from catastrophic wildfires, the senators urged the new administration to rescind the stop-work orders and continue funding programs issued after President Donald Trump’s executive orders to cut federal funds for wildfire mitigation.

The rescission orders affect small businesses and organizations involved in hazardous fuels removal.

In the letter, the senators indicated that the stop work orders and funding freezes jeopardize communities that depend on a robust federal response to Oregon’s wildfire crisis and confirmed that “Catastrophic wildfires across the United States are an ongoing national crisis and responding to them must be a national priority.”

Hazardous fuel reduction projects save lives and property while reducing the danger to firefighters and helping create fire-adapted ecosystems.

According to the senators, terminating or pausing these projects would risk all of the progress made in protecting communities.

The group also cites the Impoundment Control Act (ICA) of 1974 and other fiscal statutes that protect Congress’s constitutional power of the purse and argue that the executive orders are illegal as the ICA prohibits actions or inactions that preclude federal funds from being obligated or spent without following the requirements of the law, temporarily or permanently.

The senators say the laws have not been honored and urged the administration to rescind the stop-work orders and continue funding the wildfire management program.

The senators’ letter says, “As we’ve seen with the recent fires surrounding Los Angeles, wildfire does not distinguish between homes and trees. But we do have ways to mitigate the risk.”