Dear
Friend,
Oregon
is
on
fire.
We
must
act
now
to
help
our
communities
rebuild
and
recover.
In
Washington,
D.C.,
I’m
doing
everything
I
can
to
make
sure
communities
across
the
state
have
the
resources
and
manpower
they
need
to
fight
these
fires
now,
and
to
recover
after
they’re
extinguished.
Last
week,
we
got
our
first,
important
step
forward
after
I
was
able
to
secure
funding
to
cover
the
cost
of
fighting
wildfires,
included
in
the
disaster
and
government
spending
package
that
passed
in
the
Senate.
The
agreement
will
ensure
that
the
Forest
Service
and
other
agencies
will
have
access
to
emergency
funding
to
cover
the
remaining
costs
of
fighting
fires
for
the
2017
fire
season,
which
is
on
track
to
reach
$300
million
beyond
the
previously
set
firefighting
budget
for
2017.
Passing
this
wildfire
funding
is
a
huge
step
forward,
but
there’s
much
more
to
do.
We
need
to
help
our
communities
and
our
lands
recover
from
these
catastrophic
fires
and
I'm
pushing
for
disaster
assistance.
Senator
Wyden
and
I
have
also
joined
our
colleagues
from
the
West,
on
both
sides
of
the
aisle,
to
push
for
a
long-term
fix
that
would
fund
the
cost
of
fighting
the
largest
wildfires
in
the
same
way
that
we
respond
to
other
natural
disasters.
This
would
permanently
end
the
practice
of
“fire
borrowing,”
and
ensure
that
the
biggest
wildfires
are
appropriately
treated
like
natural
disasters.
Please
know
I’ll
keep
fighting
until
Oregon
has
all
of
the
resources
it
needs
to
confront
and
recover
from
this
ongoing
disaster.
All
my
best,
Jeff
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