Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon doesn’t mince words when it comes to wildfire management, and who should pay the bill.

He uses terms such as “discombobulated” and “dysfunctional” to describe the budgeting process and rails about twisted priorities.

That’s pointed language coming from a Democrat. And in this case, he’s working with Idaho Republican Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch in trying to fix a broken funding and management system.

Stop here for a moment. We’re seeing a Democrat working with two Republicans on legislation for the common good of their region. There’s no talk about presidential politics, party control of Congress or gridlock on Capitol Hill. There’s no angling to take political credit for accomplishments – just three senators trying to find a sensible solution to an awful problem/Chuck Malloy, Idaho Politics Weekly. More here.

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