Wildfire Firefighter Pay

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARBAJAL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to stand with our Nation's firefighters, including our Federal and wildland firefighters and to thank them for the tireless and dangerous work they are doing in California at this very moment.

In the past week alone, there have been more than a dozen new wildfires in California totaling nearly 50,000 acres across our State.

In San Bernardino, the Line fire has burned and has forced thousands to evacuate. The Bridge fire, the Davis fire, the Boyles fire, the Airport fire, and the Chimineas fire in my region near the Carrizo Plain is, thankfully, nearly contained.

However, consider this: as Californians have been baking this week in an extreme heat wave, our brave Federal firefighters choose to put on heavy gear and head into that heat.

They spend these scorching months cutting down trees, digging lines, and sleeping yards away from these deadly wildfires to keep us safe. If we don't act soon, Congress is going to thank these brave firefighters for their service with a pay cut.

We took a great step in 2021 with our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which provided a 50 percent pay raise to these heroes, but we cannot let that vital provision expire now.

The Forest Service predicts that this pay cut and loss of benefits could lead to one-half of our Federal and wildland firefighters leaving their jobs, leaving the entire American West at risk.

In closing, Madam Speaker, I thank my friend, Assistant Leader Neguse, for hosting this critical session tonight. Our firefighters have an exceptional champion in the gentleman. Let's get this done for our heroes who put their lives on the line every single day.

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