Fighting wildfires in DC

Washington Times:

Congressional lawmakers Wednesday rebuked the Forest Service for spending stimulus forest firefighting money on D.C. green-jobs programs, but gave the city the money anyway.

The decision reverses a vote of the full Senate, which last month stripped the $2.8 million in wildland fire-management funds for the District, calling it a waste of critical firefighting funds.

House and Senate negotiators made the move while hammering out a final public lands spending bill. They said they didn't want to recall the money, but in strongly worded language blasted the Forest Service for a "lack of transparency" and insisted future funds be spent solely to reduce fire threats.

But the fact that they allowed the D.C. money to be spent on jobs programs in a city with a low risk of forest fires angered lawmakers who called it an affront to Western states scorched by wildfires this year.

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This is just another example of the lack of commitment to spending restraints by the Democrats. That it is not a major story in the rest of the media tells you something about a lack of commitment to tax payer money.