OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Letter to the Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Hon. Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader - Pascrell Leads 159 Colleagues Demanding Support for First Responders

Letter

By: Jared Huffman, Jerry McNerney, Anna Eshoo, Salud Carbajal, Ted Lieu, Linda Sánchez, Harley Rouda, Joe Neguse, Joe Courtney, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Charlie Crist, Jr., Frederica Wilson, Tulsi Gabbard, Robin Kelly, Danny Davis, Lauren Underwood, Sharice Davids, Seth Moulton, John Sarbanes, Chellie Pingree, Haley Stevens, Angie Craig, Chris Pappas, Joshua Gottheimer, Don Payne, Jr., Ben Luján, Jr., Pete King, Grace Meng, Carolyn Maloney, Sean Maloney, Brian Higgins, Steve Stivers, Brian Fitzpatrick, Susan Wild, David Cicilline, Vicente Gonzalez, Elaine Luria, Peter Welch, Adam Smith, Ruben Gallego, Ami Bera, Eric Swalwell, T.J. Cox, Grace Napolitano, Karen Bass, Lou Correa, Diana DeGette, John Larson, Eleanor Norton, Val Demings, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Sanford Bishop, Jr., Bobby Rush, Mike Quigley, Mike Bost, André Carson, Joe Kennedy III, Bill Keating, Jamie Raskin, Andy Levin, Brenda Lawrence, Bennie Thompson, Andy Kim, Albio Sires, Xochitl Torres Small, Lee Zeldin, Gregory Meeks, Jerry Nadler, Eliot Engel, John Katko, Tim Ryan, Peter DeFazio, Chrissy Houlahan, Jenniffer González-Colón, Michael McCaul, Lloyd Doggett II, Gerry Connolly, Pramila Jayapal, Gwen Moore, Mike Thompson, Josh Harder, Zoe Lofgren, Julia Brownley, Norma Torres, Gil Cisneros, Juan Vargas, Jason Crow, Rosa DeLauro, John Rutherford, Alcee Hastings, Sr., Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Abby Finkenauer, Dan Lipinski, Jan Schakowsky, Cheri Bustos, John Yarmuth, Ayanna Pressley, Steny Hoyer, Dan Kildee, Debbie Dingell, Dean Phillips, Annie Kuster, Frank Pallone, Jr., Mikie Sherrill, Dina Titus, Thomas Suozzi, Nydia Velázquez, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Paul Tonko, Marcy Kaptur, Kendra Horn, Brendan Boyle, Conor Lamb, Jim Langevin, Joaquin Castro, Donald McEachin, Suzan DelBene, Denny Heck, Bill Pascrell, Jr., Tom O'Halleran, Doris Matsui, Jackie Speier, Jimmy Panetta, Brad Sherman, Raul Ruiz, Mark Takano, Scott Peters, Ed Perlmutter, Jahana Hayes, Darren Soto, Ted Deutch, Donna Shalala, Dave Loebsack, Chuy Garcia, Bill Foster, Susan Brooks, Jim McGovern, Stephen Lynch, David Trone, Fred Upton, Rashida Tlaib, Emanuel Cleaver II, Donald Norcross, Tom Malinowski, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Susie Lee, Kathleen Rice, Hakeem Jeffries, José Serrano, Anthony Brindisi, Marcia Fudge, Suzanne Bonamici, Dwight Evans, Mike Doyle, Jr., Al Green, Henry Cuellar, Jennifer Wexton, Rick Larsen, Mark Pocan
Date: April 10, 2020
Location: Paterson, NJ
Issues: National Security Health and Health Care

Dear Speaker Pelosi and Leader McCarthy:

We appreciate your work to provide support for our nation's police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical services (EMS) personnel in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. However, additional assistance is needed during this crisis. As Congress considers further legislation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we urge you to include additional support for our nation's first responders who work in one of the highest risk occupations for COVID-19 exposure.[i] First responders are routinely in physical contact with potentially infected persons and are facing unprecedented volumes of dispatch calls, especially in severely impacted areas.[ii]

A short supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) for first responders to guard against disease exposure has left many police officers, firefighters, and EMS personnel exposed to the dangers of this crisis. This has resulted in too many across our nation contracting COVID-19, officers being forced to self-quarantine, and staffing shortages when our first responders are needed most.[iii] As of April 7 more than 1,900 New York City Police Department (NYPD) employees have contracted COVID-19 with 6,900 in total in quarantine, and 282 New York City Fire Department (FDNY) employees have contracted COVID-19 with 950 in total in quarantine.[iv][v] While New York City is the current epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, many other cities and states with developing outbreaks such as New Jersey[vi], Florida[vii], Detroit[viii], Seattle[ix], Washington D.C.[x], and several additional states and cities across the nation[xi] have reported a significant number of first responders contracting COVID-19 or in self-quarantine.

As this outbreak develops, many more first responders will undoubtedly contract COVID-19 or be forced to self-quarantine. To support our nation's police officers, firefighters, and EMS personnel serving on the frontlines of this pandemic we urge action on the below items.

-Bolster resources so state and local police, fire, and EMS departments can directly access resources to purchase and be reimbursed for PPE, retain existing employees, and cover overtime, backfill costs, and COVID-19 related paid sick leave through grants at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and waive grant requirements to ensure funds are eligible for reimbursement of all COVID-19 related expenses and expeditiously reach departments in need. Further, police, fire, and EMS personnel serving in areas most impacted by COVID-19 should receive hazard pay, expeditiously distributed to their employing agency through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
-Mandate the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant waivers to Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grants recipients for employee retention to aid staffing shortages departments are facing. We urge language retroactively mandating the DHS Secretary grant such waivers for FY19 and FY20 SAFER funds.
-Extend hazard pay to all frontline federal firefighters and law enforcement officers, overtime pay to U.S. Probation Officers, and waive the federal firefighter and law enforcement officer overtime cap under 5 USC § 5547.
-Address the gap in paid sick leave coverage for first responders by mandating that the employing agency, not the employee, provide up to 80 hours of paid sick leave should these departments order the employee to self-quarantine due to potential COVID-19 exposure.
-Create a presumption in the Public Safety Officer Benefit (PSOB) program that a public safety officer's infection of COVID-19 resulted from their employment to clearly establish eligibility for death or disability benefits due to the pandemic.

During a time of crisis, communities rely on local first responders as the first line of defense for protection and emergency response. As you continue to develop further legislation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we urge you to include the above items so our nation's first responders can operate at full capacity as we fight the COVID-19 pandemic.


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