Republican appropriators in the House say they support President Trump’s order to expand timber production on national forests. Paying for it is another matter.
The Forest Service spending plan the Appropriations Committee advanced Wednesday largely rejects the Trump administration’s request to ramp up the Forest Service’s timber program, opting for a much more modest increase to help the agency meet its logging targets.
The committee’s recommendation — $45 million, rather than the $175 million the administration requested for the fiscal year beginning October 1 — is one of several ambitious goals for the Forest Service that fell flat with the Republican-led panel.
The $45 million represents a $6 million increase from this year — about all the committee could afford given various priorities, Interior-Environment Subcommittee Chair Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) told POLITICO’s E&E News.
