Members of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee differed along party lines at a Thursday hearing about how the U.S. Forest Service should partner with states and how the federal wildfire response should be organized. Senators of both parties emphasized the importance of working with state forest managers. But while Republicans praised the efforts of Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz … to reach out to state governments, Democrats noted that President Trump’s budget request for fiscal 2026 proposed eliminating a key program for state and tribal partnerships. Democrats on the panel also raised a series of questions about the still-unfinished Forest Service budget request as the next fiscal year approaches in less than three months. Schultz told the senators the budget proposal was not yet final, but confirmed the agency was telling states to prepare for zero dollars in discretionary spending for the State, Private, and Tribal Forestry program in fiscal 2026.