Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse introduces bill to help communities recover from wildfires, drought

The U.S. House is expected to consider a new bill that would help communities hit by climate disasters recover and rebuild. On Thursday, Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse introduced the Wildfire Response and Drought Resiliency Act.

The Democrat represents Colorado's 2nd Congressional District, which includes Boulder County where the Marshall Fire destroyed more than 1,000 homes last December. 

The bill would help communities invest in fire suppression and mitigation efforts. It would also increase the flexibility of federal money to help with recovery.

"It was important for us to set the marker down about what wildfire response and drought resiliency efforts could look like and should look like in terms of meeting the scale of the crisis in the American West," said Neguse, "and now the work will begin to work with our colleagues in the Senate and our hope is they would take this up in full."

The act would protect watersheds impacted by wildfires and boosts benefits for federal wildland firefighters.