According to an article from E&E News (subscription req.), Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-WI) and Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Norm Dicks (D-WA) sent a letter to President Bush yesterday urging him to submit a FY08 supplemental request for additional funding for federal wildfire accounts that have already been "pushed to their breaking points." From the article:

The Forest Service has already spent $893 million -- more than 70 percent of the $1.26 billion in available firefighting funds. The Interior Department has about $290 million for fire suppression plus a portion of the $500 million in emergency funding Congress approved for it and the Forest Service last year.

Senate leaders have been working for weeks to move new emergency wildfire funding. About $910 million in additional funding for fire suppression and prevention is part of a $24.1 billion supplemental/stimulus bill likely to see action next month. Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) postponed a markup last month over fears Republicans would push an amendment to overturn the federal moratorium on oil and gas drilling on the outer continental shelf.