Good afternoon, everyone. The subcommittee will come to order. T purpose of todays hearing is to receive testimony on 15 bills pending before the pin lands, are forest and mining subcommittee. Because of the large number of bills on todays agenda, i wont go through all of them right now, but the complete agenda will of course be included in the record. I want to note that we have a former member of our committee here, former senator mary landrieu, and we have members who will be joining us shortly who have another Committee Assignment at the moment and others who will be joining us telephonically. I also want to begin by recognizing the staggering loss of life that has occurred embedded within what has shaped up to be a really horrific wildfire season. More than 36 people have perished in infernos raging throughout the western United States this year, dozens more are missing. In oregon, my colleague senator widens home state, thousands have lost their homes and over half a Million Peop
Works subcommittee will address options to address the wild fires and Forest Management. This includes testimony from an interior Deputy Department official and deputy chief of the u. S. Forest service. Good afternoon, everyone. This subcommittee will come to t order. The purpose of todays hearing is to receiveands testimony on i bills pending beforece the publo lands force and mining subcommittee. Because of the large number of t bills onhe todays c agenda, it going to go through all of them right now. But the complete agenda will, of course, be included in the record. I want to note at the outset weve got a former member of our committee here, former senator from louisiana, longtime member of the senate and this committee is in the back. Weve got members who will be at t who have tly another Committee Assignment at the i moment. E. We have others who will be d eme joining us dtelephonically. As i want to recognize the staggering loss of life that has occurred embedded within what has
Memories of Dianne Feinstein. Senator, colleague, and hopefully for both of us, friend. And thats a lovely way to set the tone for political pop for political opposites going forward. If patience and kindness is what love is, then that is also what senator Dianne Feinstein is. Senator Dianne Feinstein is love. I salute her service and i yield the floor mr. Merkley madam president , im standing here at the desk next to the desk of our fallen colleague, senator Dianne Feinstein. It seems enormously strange that instead of being able to sit here and have her next to me, her desk is covered with a black cloth and a bowl, a crystal bowl of white roses. We come from the west coast where our states sit side by side, so perhaps it was fitting that we sat side by side here on the floor of the u. S. Senate. One thing in particular that senator feinstein liked to do was share with me pictures of her dog kirby, who she absolutely loved. And she had a lot of pictures on her phone to show kirby in d
Object. If you hear those words, understand what will have happened. Its the same thing that happened just a couple of days ago, which is democratic leadership said to our active dawty military, we dont duty military, we dont give a damn about you and were going to cut off your paycheck sunday at 12 01 a. M. That doesnt have to ham. By the that donlts have to happen. Not only is it the fault of every democrat, im sorry, mr. President , but there are no democrats here supporting us. You in your heart know were right. So im going to invite you when we do it again, well do it and do it, to join us, because you know this is the right thing to do. There are more of your colleagues on the democrat side that know this is the right thing to do. Some 19yearold marine right now in the dmz facing north korean machine guns is being told that the United States senate doesnt care enough about his or her service to pay them. Thats just wrong. Its stupid. And this body used to know enough to say, hey,
So it was the town who did it. Thank you. [applause] good evening. Im the Program Director here at the town hall and its my pleasure to welcome you to this evenings event presented by by telephone and University Bookstore as part of the seattle lectures. The purpose to of the caucuses by microsoft sponsorship provided. Our program will run for about 40 minutes tonight and after that we will have time for questions. We ask that you come to the microphones at the end of the stage so we can pick you up for the recording we are making and also that cspan is making. So brighter than usual tonight and then tonights program will be available through the Media Library on the website and then after the qanda books at the bookstore table on the other sides of the curtains here in the town hall cafe space will stay open for another few minutes if you want to chat about what weve heard tonight. Before i introduced against i want to mention a couple other events that might be of interest. The fall