Federal Firefighters Fairness Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Ms. BONAMICI. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the bipartisan Federal Firefighters Fairness Act of 2022.

Recently, I met with Andrew Robinson, an Oregonian, who served as a wildland firefighter. He fought dangerous fires in the Pacific Northwest. He battled cancer, and then he started the Wildland Firefighter Research and Protection Center to call attention to the health and well-being of firefighters.

I am grateful for Andrew's work and his immense sacrifice, but I remain deeply concerned about the barriers that impede our Nation's Federal firefighting workforce from accessing the compensation, rehabilitation, and healthcare benefits they deserve.

This important legislation will create a presumption that Federal firefighters who become disabled by serious diseases, including wildland firefighters, contracted the illness on the job. This change will help brave firefighters, like Andrew, access the medical treatment and wage-loss compensation they have earned and they need.

We must also support women in the firefighting workforce and build a more inclusive profession that accounts for the unique challenges, to their health and otherwise, that female firefighters experience on and after the job. Only 12 percent of all Federal wildland firefighters identify as women, and this underrepresentation is exacerbated by the lack of research into how firefighting affects women's health. This legislation will improve our understanding of the relationship between fire exposure and diseases, such as breast cancer and gynecological cancers which very few studies have addressed to date.

I urge all of my colleagues to support this important legislation. I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Carbajal), my friend and colleague, for his leadership on this important policy, and I thank the chairman for bringing this bill forward through the committee.

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association in support of the Federal Firefighters Fairness Act of 2022. NARFE, Alexandria, VA, April 20, 2022.

Dear Representative: On behalf of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), which is dedicated to advancing the interests of the more than 5 million federal employees and retirees, as well as their spouses and survivors, I urge you to vote in favor of H.R. 2499, the Federal Firefighters Fairness Act of 2021, when it is considered by the House of Representatives.

H.R. 2499 would create a presumption of occupational illness for federal firefighters, covering ailments like cardiovascular disease, cancers and certain infectious diseases that 49 states already presume to be work-related for their state and local firefighters. Passing this bill would bring federal rules in line with the vast majority of states in recognizing the occupational danger placed on firefighters and solve an inequity placed on the brave men and women who choose this line of work.

Federal firefighters face an onerous process to address their occupationally derived illnesses. The current system requires them to go through the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) and prove that their disease is connected to a specific event and carcinogenic exposure. This is a burdensome and time-consuming task that fails to account for the numerous toxic exposures firefighters regularly encounter. To make matters worse, OWCP has a lengthy review process, upwards of 10 months, that delays employee compensation and medical treatment.

Federal firefighters operate in some of the most hazardous environments in the federal service. They respond to threats at military installations, federal research laboratories, veterans' hospitals and other federal sites across the country, and they are exposed to high levels of smoke, heat, stress and toxic elements. The current system fails to adequately take these consistent exposures into account, and it's time for Congress to end this unfair practice. We owe it to them to correct this wrong.

For these reasons, I urge you to vote in favor of the Federal Firefighters Fairness Act of 2021 when it comes to the House floor. Thank you for your consideration of our views. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact NARFE's Staff Vice President for Policy and Programs John Hatton. Sincerely, Ken Thomas, NARFE National President.

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