Press Releases

Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after voting in favor of H.R. 4, the Jobs for America Act, which passed the House by a vote of 253 – 163. This legislation contained provisions introduced by Rep. Gosar including the Catastrophic Wildfire Prevention Act:

“Today the House gave the Senate another chance to take up legislation that will promote job creation and economic growth for Americans across the country. The Jobs for America Act contains some of the 383 bills stuck in the Senate awaiting action, including important provisions of my Catastrophic Wildfire Prevention Act. Unfortunately, this legislation has lingered in the Senate for nearly a year.

“As a medical professional for over 25 years, I know firsthand that preventative care is a much cheaper and effective treatment as opposed to dealing with an illness or disease after it has already been diagnosed. This must be the same approach we take to forest health and wildfire prevention.Unfortunately, President Obama and his administration continue to play games and waste billions of dollars on the backend on suppression.

“There is absolutely no room for politics here—the Senate must join the House and adopt policies that allow for active management of our forests. It’s time for Harry Reid’s do-nothing Senate to take action and pass the Jobs for America Act. I’m sick of being a victim of catastrophic wildfires and suffering from the consequences of bad policies.”

Background:

Congressman Gosar’s legislative contribution to H.R. 4 includes text from title 2 of his Catastrophic Wildfire Prevention Act which was included in H.R. 1526. This legislation passed the House by avoteof 244-173 on September 20, 2013. H.R. 1526 requires the Forest Service to significantly increase the volume of timber it offers for sale each year. In recent years, timber harvests have dramatically declined due to federal overregulation and harmful lawsuits.

Previously this year, H.R. 2642 was signed into law and contained some important provisions of Rep. Gosar’s Catastrophic Wildfire Prevention Act. These provisions include reauthorizing important stewardship contracting, good neighbor authority as well as important insect and disease infestation designations. Click HERE to read more.

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