More Bold Proposals! Shitstain To Cut 1,100 Firefighting Jobs, Training As Fire Season Approaches

[hatrack]

The Trump administration is planning to cut over a thousand jobs — including many wildland firefighting jobs — in what’s thought to be the largest federal jobs cut in a decade. The move comes ahead of another wildfire season and amid threatened halts to financial assistance following deadly fires last year. The latest attempt in what appears to undermine wildfire preparedness includes ending a federal program that trains young people for jobs including wildfire fighting, while at the same time withholding wildfire reimbursements California officials say are owed from last year. All of this serves to deepen the feud between President Donald Trump and West Coast states over disaster assistance. Meanwhile, multiple states are preparing for another brutal wildfire season based on current federal projections.

In an announcement buried on the Friday before the Memorial Day weekend, the Trump administration announced that it will end a program under the Forest Service, run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers (CCCs) train young people between the ages 16 to 24 in rural and disadvantaged areas for jobs including wildland firefighting and forestry, in addition to disaster recovery. The 25 centers are predominantly in the South and West and located on federal lands, with more than 3,000 students employed by the program.

Nine of the centers will close, with another 16 set to move to state control or to be taken over by private entities, as control of the program shifts to the Labor Department. Centers in Washington, Oregon, Kentucky, Montana, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Virginia, and North Carolina are all slated for closure. Roughly 1,100 jobs will be lost — potentially the largest federal workforce reduction in a decade.

EDIT

That reduction in wildfire assistance comes amid ongoing sparring between Trump and California. Last November, the president largely blamed the state for its wildfire problems, accusing California of “gross mismanagement of the forests” and threatening to withhold federal aid. Now, the Forest Service is accusing California of overbilling with its $72 million reimbursement request, money the state owes its fire agencies for last year’s work on federal lands. The Forest Service is demanding proof of “actual expenses” for the services rendered on public lands and has launched an audit into the California Fire Assistance Agreement (CFAA), which reimburses the state for such costs. That means the federal government is now withholding more than $9 million of the total amount requested from California, even as the state stares down another wildfire season.

EDIT

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-takes-aim-at-wildfire-fighting-jobs-and-funding-as-west-prepares-for-brutal-season-6cab40ae85b4/

[democratisphere]

1. Looking forward to cutting drumpf's job, permanently.

[procon]

2. Trump is a vindictive little tyrant.

All this is nothing more that his petty revenge on California and other Western states that have huge wildfires. We're all going to be punished for voting against Trump and fighting against his destructive policies that hurt our way of life.

No wonder Republican politicians are so terrified of crossing Trump. If he can try to take down a huge, wealthy, powerful and influential state like California, then ruining the career, livelihood and future of a Republican politician on a whim takes nothing more than a whisper in the right ears.

[secondwind]

3. "Taken over by private entities ". This is the real issue here.