Federal Firefighters Fairness Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I thank the sponsor of this bill who just spoke, who has left the floor, and other cosponsors of this bill, for their work.

Madam Speaker, there are thousands of Federal firefighters. There are thousands of Federal firefighters who face danger every day, thousands of Federal firefighters who get out of their bed at some point in time during the day--if they work in the day, or work at night, sleep in bunks in the firehouse--who are there to protect us.

In the course of their duties, they safeguard our military bases, our nuclear facilities, and other critical installations across the country. They serve on the front lines of the climate crisis, fighting wildfires that grow more frequent and more intense with each passing year. They protect both our private property and our public lands. Most importantly, of course, Madam Speaker, they save lives.

In the process, they are often exposed to toxic fumes. We just passed a bill not too long ago that provides for compensation to those members of our Armed Forces who are exposed to toxic fumes. As a result of those exposures, our firefighters can develop deadly diseases and cancers. Nevertheless, our Federal firefighters execute these responsibilities with courage and with dedication.

Federal firefighters are frequently fighting shoulder to shoulder with their State and local counterparts. The Pentagon is a perfect example, where the first responders were county and city of Alexandria, and then subsequently State firefighters and some Federal as well. They were shoulder to shoulder with those folks. The State and local counterparts, however, have benefits and presumptions that our Federal firefighters do not.

As a result, this bill has been introduced, and I am proud to bring it to the floor to help right this wrong and to treat these heroes with the respect they deserve. Currently, our Federal firefighters face an often-insurmountable burden of proof to receive compensation for work- related disabilities.

In just a few days, we are going to be honoring firefighters who have lost their lives over the weeks and months and years of this country's lifetime. We will honor them, but we also need to honor our present firefighters while they are living by responding to their needs and the illnesses they incur as a result of the performance of their duties.

This bipartisan legislation would guarantee that our Federal firefighters have access to disability and retirement benefits they have earned through their service. It would do so by establishing automatic presumptions for heart and lung disease and various types of cancers.

Multiple scientific studies have established a link between these illnesses and the dangers firefighters face during their service. That is why 48 States have passed similar laws creating these assumptions for their municipal, county, and State firefighters.

I, again, thank Mr. Carbajal for introducing this commonsense legislation. I thank Chairman Scott and his colleagues on the Education and Labor Committee for marking it up expeditiously. Most important, of course, I thank all of our Federal firefighters for continuing to hold the line and go to work facing possible danger in spite of the risks because of their sense of duty and dedication to serving their country and their fellow man, charging toward the flames time and time again.

We saw that so graphically on 9/11 in New York. We saw it at the Pentagon, going into danger's very jaws to save people from almost surely dying and certainly severe injury.

This is the right and proper thing to do for those heroes. They have more than earned these benefits. It is up to us to make sure they get them. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

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