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sponsibility of administering the program, they have 
little incentive to ensure it is well run. 
(3) In 1996, a Republican Congress and a 
Democratic President reformed welfare by limiting 
the duration of benefits, giving States more control 
over the program, and helping recipients find work. 
In the 5 years following passage, child-poverty rates 
fell, welfare caseloads fell, and workers’ wages in-
creased. This bipartisan success offers a model for 
improving other anti-poverty programs. 
(b) POLICY ON STATE FLEXIBILITY IN SNAP.—It 
is the policy of this concurrent resolution that SNAP 
should be reformed to reduce poverty and increase oppor-
tunity and upward mobility for struggling Americans on 
the road to personal and financial independence. Based 
on the successful welfare reforms of the 1990s, these pro-
posals would improve work requirements and provide flexi-
ble funding for States to help those most in need find 
gainful employment, escape poverty, and move up the eco-
nomic ladder. 
SEC. 520. POLICY STATEMENT ON HIGHER EDUCATION AND 
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY. 
(a) FINDINGS ON HIGHER EDUCATION.—The House 
finds the following: 
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(1) A well-educated, high-skilled workforce is 
critical to economic, job, and wage growth. 
(2) Average published tuition and fees have in-
creased consistently above the rate of inflation 
across all types of colleges and universities. 
(3) With an outstanding student loan portfolio 
of $1.3 trillion, the Federal Government is the larg-
est education lender to undergraduate and graduate 
students, parents, and other guarantors. 
(4) Students who do not complete their college 
degree are at a greater risk of defaulting on their 
loans than those who complete their degree. 
(5) Participation in Federal income-driven re-
payment plans is rising, in terms of the percent of 
both borrowers and loan dollars, according to the 
Government Accountability Office. Because these 
plans offer loan balance forgiveness after a repay-
ment period, this increased use portends higher pro-
jected costs to taxpayers. 
(b) POLICY ON HIGHER EDUCATION.—It is the policy 
of this concurrent resolution to promote college afford-
ability, access, and success by— 
(1) reserving Federal financial aid for those 
most in need and streamlining grant and loan aid 
programs to help students and families more easily 
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HCON 71 PCS 
assess their options for financing postsecondary edu-
cation; and 
(2) removing regulatory barriers to reduce 
costs, increase access, and allow for innovative 
teaching models. 
(c) FINDINGS ON WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT.—The 
House finds the following: 
(1) 7.5 million Americans are currently unem-
ployed. 
(2) Despite billions of dollars in spending, those 
looking for work are stymied by a broken workforce 
development system that fails to connect workers 
with assistance and employers with skilled personnel. 
(3) The House Committee on Education and 
the Workforce successfully consolidated 15 workforce 
development programs when Congress enacted the 
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act in 2014. 
(d) POLICY ON WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT.—It is 
the policy of this concurrent resolution to build on the suc-
cess of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 
by— 
(1) further streamlining and consolidating Fed-
eral workforce development programs; and 
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HCON 71 PCS 
(2) empowering States with the flexibility to 
tailor funding and programs to the specific needs of 
their workforce. 
SEC. 521. POLICY STATEMENT ON SUPPLEMENTAL WILD-
FIRE SUPPRESSION FUNDING. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) In 1995, fire activities made up 16 percent 
of the United States Forest Service’s (USFS) an-
nual appropriated budget. Since 2015, more than 50 
percent has now been dedicated to wildfire. 
(2) Wildland fire suppression activities are cur-
rently funded entirely within the USFS budget, 
based on a 10-year rolling average. Using this 
model, the agency must average firefighting costs 
from the past 10 years to predict and request costs 
for the next year. When the average was stable, the 
agency was able to use this model to budget consist-
ently for the annual costs associated with wildland 
fire suppression. 
(3) Over the last few decades, wildland fire sup-
pression costs have increased as fire seasons have 
grown longer and the frequency, size, and severity of 
wildland fires has increased. 
(4) The six worst fire seasons since 1960 have 
all occurred since 2000. Since 2000, many western 
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states have experienced the largest wildfires in their 
State’s history. In 2016 alone, there were a recorded 
67,595 fires and a total of over 5.5 million acres 
burned. The suppression costs to USFS and other 
Federal agencies for 2016 totaled over $1.9 billion 
dollars. 
(5) As wildfire costs continue to increase, fund-
ing levels for USFS wildfire suppression activities 
will also continue to constrict funding levels for 
other necessary USFS forest management activities 
focused on land management and wildfire preven-
tion. 
(b) POLICY ON SUPPLEMENTAL WILDFIRE SUPPRES-
SION FUNDING.—It is the policy of this concurrent resolu-
tion that Congress, in coordination with the Administra-
tion, should develop both a long-term funding mechanism 
that would allow supplemental wildfire suppression fund-
ing and reforms on reducing hazardous fuel loads on Fed-
eral forests and lands that could decrease wildfires. 
SEC. 522. POLICY STATEMENT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF 
VETERANS AFFAIRS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) For years there have been serious concerns 
regarding the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) 
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