At Hearing, Senator Murray Outlines Budgetary Costs of Worsening Wildfires, Need for Climate Action and Wildfire Investments

Statement

Today, during a Senate Budget Committee hearing, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member of the Senate Budget Committee, joined her colleagues in highlighting the economic costs of wildfires which continue to devastate local communities across the United States. During the hearing, Senator Murray underscored the need for federal investments to strengthen wildfire mitigation and suppression efforts, and pushed for bold action to address the climate crisis with the urgency it demands.

"Climate change means devastating wildfires are quickly becoming the new normal--and we know that comes with a real cost. More wildfires means more adverse effects for people's health, more loss of property, and more rehabilitation costs for communities," said Senator Murray. "As catastrophic fires grow in size and frequency, our wildfire suppression funding has to keep pace--and this can't be at the expense of mitigation and prevention efforts."

At the hearing, Senator Murray emphasized the harmful effects of climate change in Washington state, notably the disastrous wildfires from 2020 which nearly wiped the towns of Malden and Pine City off the map. Senator Murray reiterated the need for a whole-of-government approach to help local communities mitigate such risks, and support their rebuild in the years to follow.

Murray also called attention to the 2019 bipartisan "fire fix" to end the practice of federal officials diverting money from forest management activities to fight wildfires--Murray made clear that just a few short years later it's become abundantly clear that the authorized funding levels for the Wildfire Suppression Operations Reserve Fund no longer meet the current reality of ever worsening fire seasons. Murray called on her colleagues to join her in updating and extending the Reserve Fund as soon as possible to meet current suppression needs.

"Tackling this head-on is going to take an integrated, whole-of-government approach--and we have to continue to meet this moment and account for the severity of fire seasons we're already facing," said Senator Murray in closing. "That means taking a hard look at how we can save ourselves a lot of heartache and money in the long run by making smart investments in cutting emissions and federal wildfire prevention and response efforts now. So I hope that can be a bipartisan undertaking as we move forward."

Senator Murray has made clear that Congress must take bold action on climate, and helped to pass the Inflation Reduction Act last year, which delivers the largest investment in combating the climate crisis in American history. The Inflation Reduction Act will invest $369 billion over the next decade into clean energy, clean air travel, energy storage, and more⁠--the largest climate investment in United States history.

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