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The Leader’s Floor Lookout: Thursday, January 23, 2025

Here’s what to watch for on the House Floor today:
 
Improving Forest Management and Restoring American Forest Health

Thanks to regulatory burdens that hinder the ability to responsibly manage federal lands, over 117 million acres of our nation’s forests are currently overgrown, fire-prone, unhealthy, and in need of active management, contributing to the growing threat of wildfires. Forest fires are becoming more devastating and frequent, burning more than twice as much tree cover today as they did 20 years ago. 

As we have seen with the tragic fires plaguing Los Angeles, which have killed at least 27 people, razed more than 12,000 structures, and burned more than 60 square miles, these dangerous fires not only threaten our forests and environment, but the lives and communities of Americans, destroying homes and devastating families and workers. 
 

House Republicans are bringing forward legislation to reduce regulatory burdens that hinder active forest management, improving the health and resiliency of our forests, ensuring forests continue to supply clean drinking water and wood products, protecting wildlife habitats, making sure Americans can enjoy our forests through outdoor recreation, and keeping our communities safe.

Additionally, this commonsense bill works to prevent destructive wildfires and improve response, such as by offering new tools and advancing technologies, cutting burdensome regulations, enhancing transparency around wildfire mitigation investments, and ensuring communities are equipped to recover after a wildfire.

We must restore the health of America’s forests to reduce the number and severity of forest fires, keep our communities safe, and preserve the natural beauty of our great nation.

Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman’s legislation, H.R. 471, the Fix Our Forests Act, expedites and improves forest management activities on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public lands, tribal lands, and National Forest System lands, deters frivolous litigation that delays important projects, promotes collaboration across jurisdictions, prioritizes treatments in the forests with highest risk of wildfire, and encourages active forest management. 

With the increasingly widespread and frequent fires threatening American lives, communities, and environment, we must take the steps to ensure we are doing what we can to restore our forests to health and keep American lands safe and beautiful.



Requiring Medical Care for Born-Alive Abortion Survivors

Currently, the law does not require health care practitioners to administer lifesaving medical care to babies born alive after an attempted abortion – instead, some abortionists will just supply “comfort care” or “let” the baby die by not taking any action to save its life as the baby struggles to survive after birth. 

Providing medical care to babies that survive an abortion should not be a partisan issue – it’s a moral one. Babies born alive after an attempted abortion are no less deserving of lifesaving medical care than any other baby, and we must ensure that they receive the care and treatment they deserve.

House Republicans are bringing forward legislation to protect the fundamental right to life of abortion survivors by requiring health care practitioners that witness a live birth during or after an attempted abortion to administer the same care to preserve the health and life of the baby that they would administer to any other child born at the same gestational age. 

Our legislation also adds federal criminal penalties for health care practitioners who fail to administer care to a baby born alive or report violations through fines and up to five years imprisonment, and penalizes the intentional killing of a born-alive child as murder.

It’s time we pass legislation that protects the right to life of our most vulnerable and stands up for the sanctity of life.

Rep. Ann Wagner’s legislation, H.R. 21, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, secures medical protections for babies that survive an attempted abortion, requiring health care providers to administer the same medical care they would to a fetus born prematurely at the same age, transport the child to the hospital, and report violations to law enforcement. 

Every single Member of Congress should be able to agree that newborn babies deserve protection regardless of the circumstances under which they are born.