Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of the Guaranteeing Overtime for Truckers Act, which I introduced today.

America's truckdrivers are on the frontlines of keeping goods and our economy moving. More than 70 percent of goods across the United States are shipped by truck.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting supply chain crisis exacerbated longstanding challenges for truckers, including long hours away from home and time spent waiting--often unpaid--to load and unload at congested ports, warehouses, and distribution centers.

As our Nation makes historic investments in our port and supply chain infrastructure through the bipartisan infrastructure law, we should also improve wages and working conditions for essential workers and ensure they are paid for all of the hours they work.

However, for more than 80 years, Federal law has denied truckers guaranteed overtime pay benefits that are afforded to nearly all other professions. This means that if a truckdriver experiences delays due to congestion or weather, they are often not paid even though they are working.

The motor carrier exemption is exacerbating trucking workforce challenges. Additionally, research suggests that when truck labor rates are fair, there is less driver fatigue, fewer regulatory violations, and lower crash rates.

That is why I am proud to introduce this bill to repeal the overtime exemption for motor carriers.

I want to thank Senator Markey for co-leading this bill with me, and I hope our colleagues will join us in support of this bill that will ensure that trucker compensation reflects the fact that these jobs are essential. ______

By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself and Mr. Daines):

S. 4826. A bill to amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to modify the definition of the term ``at-risk community'' ; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of the Community Wildfire Protection Act, bipartisan legislation that Senator Daines and I are introducing today.

This bill would ensure that those communities that are deemed to be under the greatest threat from wildfire are eligible to receive existing Federal wildfire grants. This sounds obvious but unfortunately is not the case under existing law.

This will help more communities in our home States of California and Montana and others throughout the West access Federal grants to reduce hazardous fuels around their communities and reduce the threat posed by wildfire. In particular, it would protect areas at risk of a large- scale wildfire that would significantly threaten human life and property.

Aligning the definition in law for at-risk communities to today's environmental realities is more important than ever given the increased spread, frequency, and destructiveness of wildfires, especially in the West.

The current definition of an ``at-risk community'' was codified in the 2003 Healthy Forest Restoration Act. That law requires that, other than experiencing significant wildfire risk, an eligible community must either be adjacent to Federal land or included on a list generated in 2001 consisting of voluntary input from States and Tribes.

To be clear, including a town on this list was not based on an objective evaluation of wildfire risk or threat to life and property, only whether an individual Governor or Tribal leader decided to add it. There are obvious omissions from the list that show its inadequacy, and in fact, 19 States and territories never submitted a single community.

For example, in California, big cities like Fresno, Fairfield, and Napa are not included, all of which have experienced major wildfires in recent years, nor are countless small towns that are at great risk of wildfire. The town of Grizzly Flats, CA, which was devastated by the 2021 Caldor Fire, is also notably absent from the list.

The exclusion of these communities means that they are not eligible for Federal grant funding that would help them develop and implement wildfire resiliency plans, such as hazardous fuels reduction, nor can they utilize critical authorities to expedite wildfire mitigation projects on nearby Federal lands.

Our bill would simply end the practice of making Federal grants contingent on being this outdated, incomplete list. Instead, our legislation would allow communities to be included based on the most up-to-date quantitative wildfire risk data for the entire United States--data that are already maintained by the U.S. Forest Service.

Our bill would also allow communities not immediately within or adjacent to Federal lands to qualify as ``at risk'' of wildfire. This is important given a recent survey of more than 22,000 fires that indicated that wildfires are more likely to start on private lands and burn into Federal forestlands than the reverse. Federal policies must adapt to recognize this fact, not prevent funding from going to where it would be most effective.

Better tailoring Federal grants to the areas at greatest risk of wildfire is particularly essential given congressional funding of wildfire resilience projects, including $1.8 billion that passed as part the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act.

I am proud that our bill has received the support of the National Association of Counties, Rural County Representatives of California, the National Association of State Foresters, the Pacific Forest Trust, and the California Fire Safe Council.

I am pleased to work with Senator Daines on this commonsense bill that will save lives, save communities, and ensure that Federal dollars are spent as effectively as possible. Mr. President, my bill is simple--just three lines long--but it would ensure that our Federal policies enable billions in wildfire resiliency funding to be applied where it is needed most.

I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this legislation. ______

By Mr. THUNE (for himself and Ms. Collins):

S. 4832. A bill to temporarily prohibit the hiring of additional Internal Revenue Service employees until a certain level of taxpayer services have improved, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Finance.

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