mr. heinrich: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session and be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. heinrich: i ask unanimous consent that macie mcintosh, a detailee with the environment and public works committee and laura gentile and emily tucker who are fellows with the environment and public works committee be given floor privileges for the duration of consideration of h.r. 3864, the invest in america act. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. heinrich: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 55, s. 231. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 55, s. 231, a bill to direct the administrator of the federal emergency management agency to develop guidance for firefighters and other emergency response personnel, and so forth and for other p

mr. heinrich. we are in awe of your energy.note, when my interview with bennie thompson, i asked him about raising cases of mississippi, which has the lowest vaccination rate in the country. this is what he had to say. >> our governor refused to take the fema money to help, to go out and identify those vulnerable areas. i have four counties in my district out of 26 where we didn't have a single vaccination site. judy: you can find congressman thompson's for response on our website, pbs.org/newshour. i am judy woodruff. please stay safe and we will see you soon. >> major funding has been provided by -- ♪ >> consumer cellular, johnn & johnson. financial services firm raymond james. bnsf railway. carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, demratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security, at carnegie.org. the target foundation, committed to creating the change required to shift systems and accelerate equitable economic opportunity. and with the ongoing support of these institu

mr. chairman. >> thank you. chief christiansen, as you and i have discussed, there is a significant backlog of fuel reduction projects in oregon that have had their environmental reviews. i was interested to hear senator heinrich say that they also have a backlog of acres ready in new mexico. what does it take to get these projects that have already cleared the environmental controls under way? is a single limitation is it just money or is it anything else? >> it certainly is resources. if you think about an environmental clearance, we -- you know, we take whole projects, right, of everything that really needs to be done from restoration to timber harvest to maybe some recreation upgrades and some of those activities such as timber sales we can begin immediately while others we don't have the resources the money or the service contracts that are needed and that takes resources in place. so as a result we have to be opportunistic about doing the right resources and the right match for these projects. we are leveraging a lot more work on the ground through our -- our good neighbor agreements, through stewardship contracting -- >> i'm going to have you shorten it a little bit there. >> okay. >> i think your answe