Ron Wyden

WASHINGTON – On the heels of the most expensive wildfire season on record, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., slammed the Trump administration Friday for failing to provide aid for communities in the West and across the country ravaged by wildfires this year. The senator said the administration had committed to releasing a package in the coming weeks to help recovery efforts from 2017’s natural disasters, including major hurricanes and record-breaking wildfires. Yet the disaster aid request from the White House to Congress, released Friday, did not contain a widely supported, permanent wildfire funding fix, nor any additional aid for communities hit hard by the record-breaking fire year. “It is unacceptable the White House fails to recognize the danger wildfires pose to western communities, essentially leaving us to continue fighting the West’s natural disasters on our own,” Wyden said.