Madison, WI — Wisconsinites are facing serious air quality warnings as toxic air from Canadian and Minnesota wildfires reach communities across the state. Unfortunately, despite Wisconsinites being at the frontline of these toxic wildfire fumes, Trump and Republican Representatives like Van Orden and Tiffany remain dead set on killing climate and clean energy investments while cutting disaster relief provided by programs including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Forest Service. 

Trump has repeatedly sought to place conditions on wildfire and other extreme weather aid and has even withheld funding and emergency declarations for wildfire-stricken states. In his second term, Trump froze funding for wildfire response and cut wildfire preparedness programs.

The climate crisis is making wildfires and toxic pollution worse: 

  • Climate change is making conditions hotter and drier, exacerbating fire season and intensifying the devastating impacts of wildfires year after year. 
  • Experts agree: This toxic smoke is only going to get worse in years to come.  As long as humans continue to burn fossil fuels, global temperatures will increase, droughts will worsen, and there will be bigger, more frequent wildfires and smoke events.
  • Every county on the U.S. mainland now experiences at least 16 days each year with degraded air quality because of wildfire smoke, according to Climate Central.

Trump’s cuts are making disasters worse and leaving Americans to pay the price:

  • Trump gutted the U.S. Forest Service – the agency that works to prevent and fight wildfires – cutting over 10% of staff. 
  • Trump is playing politics with federal aid and people’s lives. The president has approved just 23 percent of blue state requests for disaster aid, compared to 89 percent for red states.
  • Before being legally forced to reinstate it, Trump canceled the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program – which provides aid for communities to pay for projects that help them prepare for disasters like fires – leaving communities on their own to pick up the tab.

As the wildfire season impacts communities in Wisconsin and across our country, will Trump and Republican Representatives like Van Orden and Tiffany continue to overlook the health impact of these wildfires on their constituents and gut funding for climate investments and disaster relief?