Ryan Zinke Votes to Preserve Rural Montana Fire Departments, Roll Back Dangerous ObamaCare Regulations

Press Release

Today, Congressman Ryan Zinke voted to preserve rural Montana fire departments and roll back potentially life-threatening regulations in ObamaCare by voting "yea" for the Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act. Under ObamaCare, employers are mandated to provide health care if they have more than 50 employees. This dangerous regulation adds to costs and will likely limit the number of firefighters a department can afford. This Act would exclude volunteer firefighters from being counted in employers' tally, allowing rural fire departments to accept more volunteers, ensure prompt response times, and save land, homes and lives. The International Association of Fire Chiefs warned that over 780,000 volunteer firefighters may be subject to these rules, which could lead to volunteer fire departments closing or significantly curtailing their emergency response activities.

The following statement is from Congressman Ryan Zinke.

"Rural and volunteer fire departments are critical to the health and safety of Montanans, and protecting these departments from potentially life-threatening ObamaCare regulations, in my opinion, is mandatory for any elected official who represents our state. We have more than 340 volunteer fire departments in Montana, and more than 10,000 volunteer firefighters who drop whatever they are doing to fight wildfires, structure fires and respond to emergencies. I'm proud to vote for the Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act because it rolls back the potentially life-threatening regulations in ObamaCare that could cause rural Montana fire departments that are operating on tight budgets to close down."

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