Fighting wildfires in DC

Washington Times:

Congressional lawmakers Wednesday rebuked the Forest Service for spending stimulus forest firefighting money on D.C. green-jobs programs, but gave the city the money anyway.

The decision reverses a vote of the full Senate, which last month stripped the $2.8 million in wildland fire-management funds for the District, calling it a waste of critical firefighting funds.

House and Senate negotiators made the move while hammering out a final public lands spending bill. They said they didn't want to recall the money, but in strongly worded language blasted the Forest Service for a "lack of transparency" and insisted future funds be spent solely to reduce fire threats.

But the fact that they allowed the D.C. money to be spent on jobs programs in a city with a low risk of forest fires angered lawmakers who called it an affront to Western states scorched by wildfires this year.

...

This is just another example of the lack of commitment to spending restraints by the Democrats. That it is not a major story in the rest of the media tells you something about a lack of commitment to tax payer money.

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