“Any delay just adds to the risk and potential damage if or when a fire breaks out,” U.S. Senator Alex Padilla told the Chronicle.
“We can’t even buy the rakes, if we wanted to rake the forest,” said Steven Gutierrez with the National Federation of Federal Employees, the union representing federal workers.
The Bureau of Land Management confirmed it had stopped all plans to clear hazardous overgrowth on public lands across the country because of the Fascist Felon’s spending freeze if the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law paid for these projects.. The law was slated to fund $113 million worth of fuels reduction work on 770,000 acres nationwide this year, a bureau spokesperson said.
The Fascist Felon has previously chastised California for not “raking” its forests, but his efforts to slash the federal budget and workforce — including an estimated 3,400 U.S. Forest Service positions — have federal lawmakers, firefighters and others concerned the federal government will fall short of its important role preventing and battling wildfires.
Other fire prevention work will continue if it was funded by other sources, such as the agency’s annual budget.
