TLF Uses Absence Of Trump Official At Hearing To Ding Republican Colleagues For Town Hall Fallouts

2 days ago

During a House Natural Resources Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM) spoke about Republican congressmen facing intense backlash at town halls.

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00:00Who do we have next?

00:00Ms. Ledger Fernandez.

00:06Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman.

00:09And thank you, witnesses, for coming today.

00:13And I must say that I agree that we have a crisis

00:17on our public lands, but it's a crisis that President Trump

00:21and Elon Musk are causing to their actions

00:26to dismantle our federal land management agencies

00:29like the Forest Service, the National Park Service.

00:33You know, the Forest Service was already

00:35understaffed and underfunded before Trump and Musk,

00:41that unelected billionaire, fired 3,400 of their workers

00:47across the country.

00:48You know, USDA hasn't released the exact numbers,

00:52and I would note that there is no Trump administration

00:56official here, right?

00:57Nope, none at all.

01:00So we can't ask them exact questions, right?

01:03The same way Republicans are refusing to do town halls

01:06because their voters will start asking them questions,

01:08we can't ask the Trump administration these questions.

01:13But we think it's about 30% of the workers in the Santa Fe

01:18National Forest, where I represent,

01:21have been terminated.

01:23Representative Siskimani, who introduced the FLASH Act,

01:27is not a stranger to these firings.

01:30His district is home to nearly 15,000 federal workers,

01:34and the Trump cuts are hurting the Coronado National Forest.

01:39In fact, Trump fired the only hydrologist

01:43in the whole forest.

01:45The only hydrologist in the whole forest.

01:48And for those of us who live in the Southwest

01:51and enjoy our mountains and our forests

01:54and know the problem with drought

01:57and the importance of water,

01:58to fire the only hydrologist is irresponsible.

02:03Mr. Chairman, I'd like to ask unanimous consent

02:06to enter in the record an article titled

02:09Fired U.S. Forest Service Worker

02:11at Coronado National Forest speaks out.

02:13Without objection.

02:15How can we expect agencies to manage our federal lands

02:20in the wake of these cuts alone,

02:22and then add more unfunded work to the plate

02:26as this bill would do?

02:28The bill we're considering today

02:29would add nearly 600 more miles of new roads

02:33for federal land management agencies to maintain.

02:36And guess how much money it provides

02:38for the maintenance of those new roads?

02:42Nada, zero.

02:44So you're adding roads.

02:45Who's gonna build those roads?

02:47How are you gonna maintain those roads?

02:48Because there's no more new money.

02:50In fiscal year 2023, the National Park Service

02:54reported over $8 billion in deferred maintenance

02:57on its words alone.

02:59Mr. Cromenacher, as a longtime leader

03:02in the National Park Service,

03:03how do you see the unfunded projects in this bill

03:07impacting the agency's ability

03:09to maintain its current services?

03:15The Park Service can't maintain its current services now

03:17with the existing staff.

03:19And in fact, it's not just the recent cuts,

03:21which are estimated about 9% of the staff.

03:25Since 2010, Park Service is down about 16% in staff

03:30and visitation has skyrocketed.

03:32So the ratios are going in exactly the wrong direction.

03:35So Big Bend National Park lost about nine people,

03:38which is about 10% of its workforce since January 20th,

03:42and right now has no maintenance supervisors at all.

03:45So still has to deal with spring break and visitors,

03:48half a million visitors a year.

03:49And then you're looking at a deferred maintenance workload

03:53in Big Bend alone of $192 million.

03:57And so the park is falling behind now.

04:00And then to add additional roads, construction,

04:04and maintenance in a desert environment

04:06where it's subject to flash floods and unstable soils,

04:11it just doesn't seem possible to me.

04:13Right, and I think that we all agree

04:16that we need to address the fentanyl issues, right?

04:20But we also know that fentanyl is coming in

04:24in the ports of entry,

04:28smuggled in by American citizens for the most part.

04:33So we need to invest in the technology

04:35and the places where we'll be able to capture that fentanyl

04:38and not put this undue burden

04:42in order to just make a big to-do

04:47when we're not actually funding

04:49the work that will solve the problem.

04:52And that's what I have with this bill

04:55is it's not the solution that we need.

05:00And there is no money that goes along with it.

05:04And they're gonna vote on a funding bill,

05:07the Republicans are,

05:08that gives Musk and Trump the ability

05:11to cut whatever they want.

05:15And I think that is a problem.

05:17Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

TLF Uses Absence Of Trump Official At Hearing To Ding Republican Colleagues For Town Hall Fallouts

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