WASHINGTON -- The House on Friday approved wide-ranging legislation aimed at helping communities in the West cope with increasingly severe wildfires and drought that have caused billions of dollars of damage to homes and businesses in recent years.
The measure combines 49 separate bills and would increase firefighter pay and benefits, boost resiliency and mitigation projects for communities affected by climate change, protect watersheds and make it easier for wildfire victims to get federal assistance.
"Across America the impacts of climate change continue to worsen, and in this new normal, historic droughts and record-setting wildfires have become all too common," said Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., the bill's chief co-sponsor. "This is a bill that we believe meets the moment for the West."
The bill was approved, 218-199, as firefighters in California battled a blaze that forced evacuation of thousands of people near Yosemite National Park and crews in North Texas sought to contain another fire.
It now goes to the Senate.
The bill's centerpiece would permanently boost pay and benefits for federal wildland firefighters. President Joe Biden signed a measure last month giving them a raise for the next two years.
Pay raises for the federal firefighters had been included in last year's $1 trillion infrastructure bill, but the money was held up as agencies studied recruitment and retention data to decide where to deliver them. The raise approved by Biden was retroactive to Oct. 1, 2021, and expires Sept. 30, 2023.
The House bill would make the pay raises permanent and sets minimum pay for federal wildland firefighters at $20 per hour. It also raises eligibility for hazardous-duty pay and boosts mental health and other services for firefighters.
The legislation "will protect the West by addressing water shortages and protecting our forests and addressing the needs of our firefighters," said Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Wash.
Republicans denounced the measure as "political messaging," noting that firefighters' hourly pay has already been increased above $20 in most cases. The House bill does not appropriate additional money for the Forest Service or other agencies, and without such an increase, the Forest Service says it would have to lay off about 470 wildland firefighters.
Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., called it "egregious" that Democrats would seek to enact provisions that could lead to firefighter layoffs in the midst of wildfire season.
"Democrats are finally waking up to the wildfire and drought crises, exacerbated by years of forest mismanagement and a lack of long-term water storage," said Westerman, the top Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee.
He accused Democrats of failing to follow science showing the need to manage forests before fires begin.
Neguse called that accusation outrageous and noted that many of the bills included in the legislation are Republican proposals.
FILE - Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., talks during a news conference updating the Colorado wildfire damage after touring the impacted area Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey, File)
FILE - A firefighter extinguishes flames as the Oak Fire crosses Darrah Rd. in Mariposa County, Calif., on July 22, 2022. Crews were able to to stop it from reaching an adjacent home. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
FILE - The Oak Fire burns behind a scorched pickup truck in the Jerseydale community of Mariposa County, Calif., early July 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
FILE - Savino Sanchez holds his mother-in-law's dog as he and his family search through the remains of their home in Monte Vista, Colo., April 22, 2022, after a fire fueled by high winds Wednesday burned 17 structures and displaced six families. The family lost everything except the clothes on their backs, two dogs and their cat. (Christian Murdock/The Gazette via AP, File)