Economic Stimulus Package

The massive economic stimulus package being considered by Congress and the Obama Administration has dominated much of the attention in Washington, D.C. over the past month. The respective House and Senate packages both include funding for forest management activities, although the two bodies remain far apart on other key components of the legislation.

On January 28, the House of Representatives passed their version of a stimulus package which totaled about $819 billion. The bill largely passed along party lines with the entire Republican caucus voting against it along with 11 Democrats. Key members of the Senate, economists, and even members of the press have raised serious questions about some of the spending included in the House package.

The Senate is currently debating its version. Republicans are pushing to remove some of the spending provisions they criticize as being non-stimulative and add additional tax cuts. Nearly every member of the Senate has stimulus provisions they are seeking to add or remove from the bill and the cost of the proposal is bound to increase. As of February 4, over 200 amendments had been introduced, which raises the likelihood that Senate leadership will need to step in to limit debate and move the bill forward if they hope to enter into a conference with the House.

Both the House and Senate stimulus packages include a significant amount of supplemental funding for the federal land management agencies. Under the House proposal the Forest Service would receive $850 million, of which $300 million would go towards treating hazardous fuels on federal lands and $550 million for other projects, including state and private hazardous fuels reduction and biomass grants. An additional $650 million would be allocated to that agency for capital improvement and maintenance, including road maintenance and decommissioning activities. The BLM would receive $325 million for a combination of hazardous fuels, road, bridge, trail, facilities improvements and other uses.

The Senate version includes $650 million for Forest Service hazardous fuels reduction efforts, of which $300 million is for federal lands hazardous fuels projects and $350 million for hazardous fuels work on state and private forests, of which $50 million would be used to fund biomass utilization grants. Capital improvement and maintenance projects would receive $650 million, including $280 million for road maintenance. The BLM’s share under the Senate bill is $135 million, which is far short of the House’s $325 million. The Senate version would allocate $15 million to hazardous fuels reduction on BLM lands.

The President and both Houses of Congress have set a goal of enacting the legislation before the President’s Day Recess. As the process drags out it is looking increasingly unlikely they will meet that goal. /Tom Partin

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AFRC Newsletter: 2/4/09