Congressional Fight Raging Over Best Way to Fund Wildfire Fight

In June, the House Appropriations Committee approved $3.9 billion to combat and manage wildfires, but it has not yet been scheduled for a vote.

As wildfires burn across the American West, a fight is raging behind closed doors on Capitol Hill as Democrats and Republicans go back and forth on the best funding to battle the blazes, NBC News reported.

Democrats want to give the U.S. Forest Service more money and greater flexibility to fight deadly blazes currently ravaging parts of California, Arizona and other states. Republicans agree that more needs to be done, but want the agency to better target its funding as it works to fight fires.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Forest Service is also using up 52 percent of its current $5 billion budget to fight forest fires. The fire season so far is severe with 20 wildfires raging in various states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

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