Introducing Freshman Republican Members

Floor Speech

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Mr. KILEY. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for that kind introduction. It is an honor to represent California's Third District.

Madam Speaker, I would like to raise an important issue regarding aid for my constituents harmed in the Caldor fire, which I had the chance to discuss with President Biden yesterday.

The Caldor fire tore through El Dorado, Alpine, and Amador Counties in August of 2021. The community of Grizzly Flats was leveled and 800 homes were destroyed. With 20,000 residents under mandatory evacuation orders, further devastation was only narrowly avoided.

Americans may remember the surreal images of ski slopes set aflame, smoke billowing from the foothills, and ash raining down on cities across the Sacramento Valley. Entire communities in the Lake Tahoe area had their survival hanging on a razor's edge and could well have been consumed by the flames if not for the heroics of our first responders.

By the time the blaze was extinguished, it ranked among the most destructive fires in California's recorded history.

I had the chance to walk through the hollowed out streets and roads of Grizzly Flats just days after the fire. To his credit, President Biden visited the following month as well. President Biden traveled to California in September of 2021 to survey the damage. After landing at Mather Airport, President Biden joined Governor Newsom, California Office of Emergency Service Director Mark Ghilarducci, and other State and Federal officials for an aerial tour of the smoldering remains of Grizzly Flats, and the surrounding area.

After landing, CAL OES Director Ghilarducci thanked President Biden for the relief that had been provided to victims of the recent Dixie and River fires, and the relief that would soon be provided for victims of the Caldor fire.

At that point, President Biden interjected. He said: ``We are going to take care of them.'' ``. . . there's a lot we can do, and it starts off being a Federal responsibility, in my view.''

These are President Biden's words as he was present shortly after the fire: ``We are going to take care of them.'' ``. . . there's a lot we can do, and it starts off being a Federal responsibility, in my view.''

Yet, well over 1 year later, President Biden has yet to fulfill that promise and provide individual assistance through FEMA to hundreds of people--hundreds of my constituents--who lost everything. In fact, FEMA has twice denied individual assistance, even though this same Federal aid was provided in similarly destructive wildfires such as the 2021 River fire.

Yesterday, I spoke with President Biden. I reminded him of his visit to Grizzly Flats and of the promise that he made. The President was receptive and seemed genuinely troubled that the residents of Grizzly Flats have not received relief. He said that he would get to the bottom of it, and I thank him for that.

The reality is that the President has the power with the stroke of a pen to grant this aid to the residents of Grizzly Flats. In fact, just a few years ago, President Trump did precisely that, providing individual assistance to victims of another California fire, the Creek fire. So I am calling on President Biden to keep his word and to give victims of the Caldor fire the relief that they deserve.

Now, while we must remember the debt that is owed to the community of Grizzly Flats, we also need to reflect on how we got here. The fact is that these catastrophic wildfires that ravage California year after year are not inevitable. They are a direct result of failed policies and of neglect, and Grizzly Flats is a perfect example.

The United States Forest Service actually had a fire mitigation plan that was announced in 2013 that would create a 15,000-acre fuel reduction buffer east and south of Grizzly Flats. Now, although that project began in 2014 and was scheduled to be completed by 2020 before the fire, it became mired in delays, and by the time of the fire in 2021, only 14 percent of the work had been done.

By the way, the Forest Service exaggerated this. They overstated the amount of work that had been done. They claimed that it was twice that, and it took an investigation by Capital Public Radio to reveal the truth.

Wildfire experts believe that if the project had been completed on schedule, it could well have saved Grizzly Flats.

A key architect of the mitigation project, former El Dorado National Forest District Director Duane Nelson, said that if the project had been completed, then there would have been a high probability that Grizzly Flats would not have burned in the Caldor fire. He continued that it could have meant survival.

So even though the damage was caused in part by Federal negligence, we still have not gotten Federal aid. That is what makes this such a bitter pill to swallow for my constituents, that it was neglect on the part of the Federal Government that led to the fire, and then after the fire, the promises of the Federal Government for relief have gone unfulfilled.

More broadly, as we do everything we can to get assistance to the community of Grizzly Flats, we need to do everything we can to assure that other communities don't suffer the same fate. This means taking the simple and scientifically backed steps that we know reduce the risk of wildfires: actively and responsibly managing Federal forests, clearing underbrush and dead trees that serve as ladder fuels, conducting controlled burns, and selectively harvesting mature trees for logging to ensure healthy forest density.

Those are just the beginning of the steps that we can take to make sure that this doesn't keep happening again and again. I am calling on all of us to work together across the aisle to take the steps to do the work that needs to be done.

In the meantime, I am calling on the President to please, today, tomorrow, as soon as he possibly can, with the stroke of a pen make good on his promise and give the residents of Grizzly Flats the relief they deserve.

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