Providing for Consideration of H.R. Rights for the Transportation Security Administration Workforce Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Federal Firefighters Fairness Act of Providing for Consideration of H.R. Community Services Block Grant Modernization Act of and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act, and for Other Purposes
Floor Speech
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Ms. SPANBERGER. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of this important legislation of which I am a cosponsor and intend to vote for.
Firefighters are routinely exposed to high stress, smoke, heat, and various toxic substances. As a result, they are far more likely to contract cardiovascular disease, lung disease, and cancer than other workers.
I strongly support extending workers' compensation to America's Federal civilian firefighters as we will do with the Federal Firefighter Fairness Act, but I want to use this opportunity to call on House leadership and the Veterans' Affairs Committee to bring forward another related bill, the Michael Lecik Military Firefighters Protection Act.
I strongly support extending workers' compensation to our civilian firefighters, but we must extend the same benefits to our military firefighters. Not doing so would be nothing short of a dereliction of our sacred duty to them.
One such military firefighter was Michael Lecik, an Air Force firefighter. He deployed twice to the Middle East, and after coming home to central Virginia some years later, Mike was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer linked to the dangerous conditions of his service as a military firefighter, a connection we are acknowledging for Federal firefighters with our votes for the Federal Firefighters Fairness Act.
While I am grateful that we are moving this bill forward, I am deeply concerned and disappointed that we are not remedying this issue for the brave servicemembers like Mike who had similar exposures.
Mike died in March 2021 at the age of 41, leaving behind a loving wife and three school-age daughters. As he faced down his illness, he worked and advocated to ensure that other military firefighters would have their service-connected illnesses recognized.
In his honor and in service to military firefighters like him, I will continue to work to ensure an acknowledgment of harm is extended to all affected populations, including veterans dying from cancer without any acknowledgment of their service-connected injury.
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