▶ 0:17:06>> call to order a business meeting of the U.S. senate committee on agriculture and forestry to consider hr4550 united states grain standards reauthorization act of 2025. S1462, fix our forest acts and 13 land exchange bills.
▶ 0:17:32It relies on the way the inspection services provided by the usda's federal inspection services partner agencies to facilitate the high quality U.S. grain into the global market price -- place. I appreciate the bipartisan work by chair thompson and ranking member craig on U.S. grain standards reauthorization act of 2025. Today we build upon this.
▶ 0:18:05It represents the dedication of a bipartisan group of senators, senator hickenlooper and senator sheehy. The citizens have suffered tremendous hardship exorbitant costs and untold environmental damage. I thank you for your leadership and addressing one of our country's most significant natural resource policy issues.
▶ 0:18:36I would like to thank my colleague and friend from arkansas for his leadership on these issues. I'm glad his staff has joined us today. We will see him later, I hope so. The fix our forest act provides new authorities and their fight to mitigate the frequency of catastrophic wildfire.
▶ 0:19:07They will help to keep our forest healthy and working for generations to come while protecting local communities of americans. Finally the committee will consider 13 land exchange bills exchanging land between state remedies or private citizens of the federal government. These bills impact nine different states.
▶ 0:19:40I'm so glad senator klobuchar could -- and myself could work to advance these bills out of the committee on both sides of the aisle. I would like to thank our staff's for their assistance over the last few months. I would like to thank carly, colin, rick, my staff of senator klobuchar staff.
▶ 0:20:12Again they did an exceptional job. I recognize the ranking member. >> thank you very much Mr. chair . This is a very important package of bills before us today. Especially the grain standards reauthorization. Something we care a lot about.
▶ 0:20:38The fix our forest bills that they have led to in the senate along with westerman and peters in the house. We will continue to work on this bill. I want to see some funding for the agencies as part of it.
▶ 0:20:58Important changes have been made to the house bills including clarifying the spoke -- scope of one of the categorical inclusions, recognizing the role of tribes and what they played in forest project adding additional guardrails around the new fire shed management areas. They were added due to amendments and other changes from our side. I understand some of our colleagues would like to support changes.
▶ 0:21:29It is important to advance this bill to allow us to make those changes and improve on the house version. The land packages that were mentioned by the chair could not be more important. These are things that are all bipartisan in nature. They are supported by wilderness groups across the country.
▶ 0:21:53This will amount to one of the biggest packages of bills when it comes to public land that we have seen in decades. That package includes landfills in tennessee, virginia, mississippi, minnesota, arkansas, georgia, north carolina, alabama. If I'm missing one I'm sure one of the members will correct me.
▶ 0:22:23Collectively these bills included in this land package represent years of hard work and I want to thank my staff for working with everyone on these bills as well as senator bozeman staff. We continue to work in the shadow of issues surrounding agriculture as you all know, the subject of our committee.
▶ 0:22:48The year-long campaign to reduce the workforce has 15,000 fewer employees including 1400 fewer service employees to fight fires and while these bills are incredibly important to move forward it will be harder to do the work of the usda on forests and other things if we don't make sure we are hiring some of these employees that were let go or terminated long before the
▶ 0:23:18Shutdown began. I want to thank senator bozeman for his incredible work and his staff as well as my own staff again moving forward on these major bills, thank you. >> we appreciate you helping us get in a good place moving these things forward.
▶ 0:23:47As did I with the members of this committee who have worked really hard to advance this. I asked unanimous consent that letter sent to the community, regarding the legislation we are including today be put in the record. I also asked unanimous consent that members be permitted to submit their statements regarding today's legislation for the record and also without objection. So moved.
▶ 0:24:17The committee will proceed to hr4550, united states grain standards reauthorization act of 2025. I offer a bipartisan amendment that has been distributed and asked for unanimous consent that the amendment be adopted and considered for the purpose of the amendment. Without objection, so ordered. Are there any senators who wish to debate or offer amendments?
▶ 0:24:51Seeing none and noting that we are reporting a quorum is present. I move that hr4550 amendment be reported, the clerk will call the roll. [taking role]
▶ 0:26:14Chair Boozman: On this vote the gaze are 23 and the nays are 0. Hr4550 will be reported. We will proceed with consideration of 15 landfills. I understand senator hyde-smith and senator durbin have technical amendments to their bills.
▶ 0:26:44Chair Boozman: The durbin amendment number one to 2548 are adopted. >> never got my amendment?
▶ 0:26:54Chair Boozman: Yes. >> forgive me.
▶ 0:26:59Chair Boozman: You can bring it up. >> this is the largest land package in decades and it is bipartisan. >> I apologize to all of my colleagues.
▶ 0:27:14Chair Boozman: You can bring it up at the appropriate time. The reporting quorum is present. I move the following bill be reported s 277, 1680, 2440 as amended, hr 197, s 1262, 2548 as amendment, 1681, hr 1612, s
▶ 0:27:47Chair Boozman: 1350, s 1376, s 1876, s6 38, and an original bill to convey a personal -- parcel of property to the for services to perry county arkansas and I want to correct that is s6 38. The clerk will call the roll.
▶ 0:28:14Chair Boozman: [taking roll[ [taking roll] >>
▶ 0:29:12Chair Boozman: The aye's are 23, ne >> the aye's are 23, nthe nay's are zero.
▶ 0:29:22Chair Boozman: The aye's are 23 and nay's are zero. The measure will be reported. We will could -- proceed with consideration of s 1462, the fix our forest act. I would like to express my support for the proposal. The nation's second largest employer in the forest sector.
▶ 0:29:51Chair Boozman: There is more for clarifying the definition of fuel standard. While this is an issue within the jurisdiction, it is something I believe congress should address as it considers other changes. I look forward to working with my colleagues to address this issue as soon as possible.
▶ 0:30:14Chair Boozman: I now offer an amendment that has been distributed and ask for unanimous consent and the amendment be adopted and considered. Without objection, so ordered.
▶ 0:30:32Chair Boozman: The ranking member and I also have the package that includes the following amendments, number 1, 2, fisher number one, klobuchar number one and number two, lujan 1, 2, 3, 5. Shift 1, 3, 5. Mcconnell number one. Smith number one.
▶ 0:31:02Chair Boozman: Warnock number one. The managers amendment without objection, the package is adopted. Do any other members wish to add amendments to 1462?
▶ 0:31:24Chair Boozman: >> before we get started I wanted to again clarify that these amendments are package makes this bill better. There is still room for improvement. I know that is what these are about.
▶ 0:31:43Chair Boozman: The bill with our amendment is supported by the environmental defense fund, the national wildlife federation as well as the theodore roosevelt conservation partnership. Thank you. The bill by senator hickenlooper, padilla, and others.
▶ 0:32:05Chair Boozman: I appreciate you pointing that out. Working with the sponsors and the committee I think the amendments have made it better. >> could I call up my amendment? >> my amendment is the disaster read ration act. Our foresters are struggling.
▶ 0:32:33Chair Boozman: We must do something to help them or we will be importing all of our wood products. I filed this amendment with senator warnock for the purpose of raising awareness to the private forest land dormers which a natural disaster strikes .
▶ 0:33:01Chair Boozman: When a hurricane, tornado, pest or disease outbreak strikes they do not have insurance or programs available to them. It allows landowners to conduct of the appraised value of their uncut timber prior to it being destroyed if they commit to replacing within five years. This allows them to reinvest and sustain rural jobs.
▶ 0:33:26Chair Boozman: With sawmill closures, many landowners cannot whether future storms. This is the easiest way to give them a helping hand continued the best forest ration practices and boost the goal of the domestic ply -- supply.
▶ 0:33:47Chair Boozman: I recognize this falls under the finance committee's jurisdiction so I will withdraw the amendment today but I ask for your commitment to work together to ensure landowners get the help they need. >> Mr. chairman.
▶ 0:34:00Chair Boozman: Thank you senator tuberville, we appreciate you bringing this important problem, issue forward. >> thank you very much.
▶ 0:34:21Chair Boozman: Thank you for highlighting and cosponsoring this amendment from senator cassidy and myself focused on disaster reforestation. Our bill would help landowners recover the full extent of their losses after a natural disaster, it is only fair. It is an important issue for the constituents.
▶ 0:34:50Chair Boozman: I hope the senate would consider this bill and provide george's forest landowners much needed relief. I look forward to working on this as a member of the finance committee.
▶ 0:35:08Chair Boozman: We are very much willing to work with you and see how we could solve a very difficult problem. Thank you. Are there any other amendments? >> thank you. I would like to thank you and our ranking member, senator klobuchar for your efforts to negotiate this package. I think we have made a lot of progress.
▶ 0:35:36Chair Boozman: I would like to call up amendment number six which would require public and tribal collaboration. We've gone a long way to where we want to go. Colorado like a lot of western states has a long history of working together to restore our forests. Projects move faster when communities are at the table from the start.
▶ 0:36:06Chair Boozman: It fixes the size of emergency forest management projects while eliminating opportunities to challenge these projects in court. Public comment and trial consultation has always been critical in making the best decisions.
▶ 0:36:22Chair Boozman: That is why while the support for the fix our forest act has been broad, it is extremely qualified because people are counting on the process, this process to ensure that public comment is still available. Communities and tribes in the west are far better situated to know what is going on in these landscapes them bureaucrats in washington, D.C. they are the ones most at risk.
▶ 0:36:54Chair Boozman: It makes their participation more critical. Unfortunately this bill ignores the central importance of their participation and good judgment. Public comment and trial consultation aren't obstacles, they build trust and make projects better. For every community in our state that values being heard by the federal government, this amendment is the right approach.
▶ 0:37:24Chair Boozman: Thank you for your comments and consideration. >> I think senator bennet for offering this amendment. I was proud to partner with him on it. I thank you for your work on the bill and want to acknowledge the great work being done by my colleague senator padilla and senator hickenlooper. Improvements that have been made since the bill left the house.
▶ 0:37:56Chair Boozman: The two most significant features of the bill from my point of view are the changes in view and the opportunity to challenge the court but also the lack of public notice and comment. The statute of limitations has been dramatically reduced and substantially changed to favor moving forward these projects.
▶ 0:38:24Chair Boozman: These changes in terms of judicial review in the absence of a more fulsome public notice and comment, we risk projects moving forward without the public being sufficiently aware of them coupled with the limitation of what could be done to challenge them. Senator bennet addresses one of those two concerns.
▶ 0:38:52Chair Boozman: The language that would provide some consultation. The tribes would like some opportunity for the public to be heard. We want to make sure the focus of this bill designed to mitigate the risk of fire is really the animating force behind these projects rather than being driven by economics. I support senator tuberville's amendment.
▶ 0:39:22Chair Boozman: I think companies should be compensated in the form of tax relief when there are natural disasters. The whole purpose behind this is fire mitigation. Without resources in the bill then the inability to be able to challenge projects in court provides significant concerns about the bill.
▶ 0:39:52Chair Boozman: I do think they could be mitigated by this amendment and I would bring support for it. I think the chairman. >> Mr. chairman. I just want to before you do this I support the work senators bennett and schiff have done here. This amendment might not pass today, I hope more progress could be made.
▶ 0:40:17Chair Boozman: It builds on the progress as you noted that we made with over the house bill including the amendment by my colleague senator smith that got included. I hope we will continue to try to make the bill even better.
▶ 0:40:33Chair Boozman: Does anybody else have a comment? Seeing no further. Seeing no further items on the amendments. The clerk will call the roll.
▶ 0:41:04Chair Boozman: [taking roll]
▶ 0:42:03Chair Boozman: >> that is 11 aye's, 12 no's.
▶ 0:42:09Chair Boozman: The amendment fails. Are there any other amendments?
▶ 0:42:20Sen. Schiff: I would like to call up amendment number three. The amendment I'm offering would address the outstanding issue of funding to carry out the provisions of the bill. We can expect the forest service to carry out any number of crucial wildfire risk mitigation projects. The new projects without resources.
▶ 0:42:47Sen. Schiff: At the same time we have seen the budget cuts and the workforce reduced to add to the scope of responsibilities at a time when workforce is being reduced without an adequate budget means these good provisions that were authored by my colleague may not be fully realized without adequate funding.
▶ 0:43:14Sen. Schiff: This bill would provide the funding to the audible provisions in the bill.
▶ 0:43:25Sen. Klobuchar: I think senator schiff, I think additional funding will be critical now that the forest service has 5000 fewer staff than it did in january. Under this important bill those employees remaining needed to execute these projects are very important. I think that is a long-term focus as we move this bill to the floor.
▶ 0:43:54Chair Boozman: Thank you. >> I also support senator schiff's amendment. This bill does not have any resources to do the things that it says it is trying to fix our forest. I think that is critical for people to understand, we are facing an emergency throughout the west.
▶ 0:44:24Chair Boozman: We need to address that emergency with the legislation that will provide the funding we need to make the kind of difference that everybody here wants to make. I will support the amendment.
▶ 0:44:41Chair Boozman: Does anybody else want to speak? The question is on the amendment. The clerk will call the roll. [taking roll]
▶ 0:45:42Chair Boozman: The amendment fails. Are there any other amendments? That anyone would like to bring up?
▶ 0:45:54Sen. Booker: I'm really grateful , forgive my timing before. I would like to call up my amendment that would strike section 121 it is cosponsored by senator durbin and senator fetterman.
▶ 0:46:12Sen. Booker: Supreme court case law provides judges with equitable discretion to use when deciding whether or not to grant an injunction and gives judges flexibility regarding how to make those determinations. Section 121 robs judges of this flexibility and how much weight to give them. Regardless of the facts or law of a particular take.
▶ 0:46:42Sen. Booker: Six years might be too long, it could disenfranchise these communities who are most at risk for a wildfire. The trump administration is proving itself over and over again that it would have some troubles with the law. I believe those federal courts are the last line of defense in parts acting -- protecting the rule of law.
▶ 0:47:12Sen. Booker: Limiting access to courts by the public, especially those impacted by wildfires. To preserve the judicial review status quote for fire shed projects.
▶ 0:47:28Chair Boozman: Thank you senator booker.
▶ 0:47:33Sen. Klobuchar: I don't know if senator durbin wanted to go first.
▶ 0:47:40Sen. Durbin: Thank you very much . I took a look at this amendment and wondered why I hadn't seen it before. Clearly it was an issue of judicial jurisdiction. The question about the statute of limitations as well as the injunctive relief goes far beyond forestry issues. The issue I think is usually, customarily the province of the judiciary committee.
▶ 0:48:11Sen. Durbin: To my knowledge this has never been referred to the judiciary committee. I think that is a mistake for the reasons stated by senator booker. I agree with senator booker.
▶ 0:48:32Sen. Durbin: 150 days from this new review period the agent -- rather than the final agency decision. Further ensuring you could access judicial review.
▶ 0:48:53Sen. Durbin: Some of these decisions are critical when it comes to the issues of maintaining a healthy forest to give so little time to those reviewing agencies is unwise. Limiting the ability to grant relief is extremely shortsighted . This has the potential of being a good bipartisan bill.
▶ 0:49:22Sen. Durbin: I hope my colleagues on both sides of the table will join me in supporting the amendment. The last point I want to make, it might already be there. A letter from 150 organizations opposing this without objection.
▶ 0:49:47Sen. Klobuchar: I want to thank senator booker in support of his amendment. I also appreciate his words and perhaps there is something between the six years and when this ended up. We included a of senator booker's amendment. We made a number of changes to the house bill.
▶ 0:50:10Sen. Klobuchar: I do support this change and while I don't believe it will pass today I am committed to continue working on it going forward.
▶ 0:50:19Chair Boozman: Are there any other members that would like to speak on the amendment? The clerk will call the roll. [taking roll]
▶ 0:51:16Chair Boozman: >> the aye's are 11 the no's are 12.
▶ 0:51:25Chair Boozman: On this vote the aye's are 11 the no's are 12. Does anybody else have an amendment to offer? Seeing no further amendments.
▶ 0:51:47Sen. Ray Lujan: There is a long list of amendments left. If no one will move forward I will. I would like to call lujan amendment four.
▶ 0:51:58Chair Boozman: Go ahead.
▶ 0:52:01Sen. Ray Lujan: I want to start with thanking the senators for their leadership with drafting this bipartisan bill. Wildfires are growing larger, hotter, more destructive every year. Our federal response must evolve just as quickly.
▶ 0:52:22Sen. Ray Lujan: Today I offer five amendments designed to strengthen how we recover from wildfires while ensuring local communities and how they are going to work in this environment. I'm very pleased to support four of the five amendments. They will make our wildfire response smarter and more equitable. The focus on helping communities recover and thrive.
▶ 0:52:49Sen. Ray Lujan: I would like to discuss the other amendment not included in the manager's amendment. This amendment built on legislation I worked on with the senator from wyoming. It gives the secretary the ability when there is damages on national forests or lands.
▶ 0:53:14Sen. Ray Lujan: Similar to the amendment by senator tuberville and we need to get that one included to help these families as well, over the last few years in new mexico, we saw something happen that is something that is less than 1/10 of a percent of a chance of a fire starting when there is a controlled burn.
▶ 0:53:38Sen. Ray Lujan: Someone that works for the federal government goes out to do a prescribed burn and the thing gets out of control. They started this fire and it was supposed to be put out. They are supposed to use infrared technology to see where there is hotspots. They put their hand over the fire or the root that combusted and birds millions of acres in new mexico.
▶ 0:54:06Sen. Ray Lujan: If someone from the federal government starts the fire, these little small governments in our communities that don't have any tax breaks they can't come up with the cost shared. I do my due diligence to control my language. They are out of luck. I very much appreciate senator lummis working on this with me. I want to work with the committee.
▶ 0:54:38Sen. Ray Lujan: When these little communities get struck with something they could prevent the devastation. There is a better way to get there. I will withdraw this and I hope to work with you, the ranking member, all of our colleagues to see if we could get this one included down the road. I hope to god we never need this one. Someone from the federal government would not start a fire that gets out of control. I will withdraw this amendment.
▶ 0:55:12Sen. Klobuchar: I want to thank senator lujan because I'm supportive of this amendment and I appreciate his passion. It bleeds into some of the other issues on funding that were raised earlier. We worked very hard with your staff and included four of the five amendments and we look forward to working with you on this one.
▶ 0:55:38Chair Boozman: I agree totally this is a huge problem. We look forward to working with you in the future. Are there any other amendments? Seeing no further amendments. 1462 is amended.
▶ 0:56:12Chair Boozman: The clerk will call the roll. [taking roll]
▶ 0:57:13Chair Boozman: >> the aye's are 18, the no's are 5.
▶ 0:57:21Chair Boozman: S1462 as amended will be reported. I asked for unanimous consent in preparing these pieces of legislation for reporting. The staff will be allowed to make conforming changes as appropriate. I see no objection, so ordered. Thank you to the members of our committee and the sponsors of these pieces of legislation. With that, the business meeting is adjourned. >> thank you, Mr. chair.