OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Federal Firefighters Fairness Act of 2022

Floor Speech

Date: May 11, 2022
Location: Washington, DC

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to point out that there is a glaring issue with this bill that needs to be corrected. On page 5, section D, it has an exemption here. It says that the people who qualify under this legislation, it has to be someone who ``performs such activities as a primary responsibility of his or her job.''

Mr. Speaker, we have thousands of forestry technicians, seasonal and temporary firefighters, whose main job is not fighting fires. I believe, the way this legislation is written, they would be excluded from these benefits. These brave men and women fight fires; however, it is not their primary responsibility.

Before legislation like this moves forward, I hope we would be able to at least correct that error. In its current form, I can't support the legislation. I encourage others not to support it in this form.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT


Source
arrow_upward