New Congress Highlights Fire Fighter Issues

January 10, 2007 -- The new 110th Congress is off to a quick start, placing fire fighter issues at the forefront of its agenda, including HR.1 – a proposal to fully implement the recommendations of the 9-11 Commission – which the House of Representatives passed overwhelming in a 299-128 vote January 9.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had pledged to pass several important legislative initiatives in the first 100 hours of the 110th session of Congress. HR.1, a bill long supported by the IAFF to improve homeland security programs, is a far-reaching initiative that contains several provisions important to the nation’s fire fighters. The IAFF helped craft the language.

“Designating an IAFF priority as HR.1 clearly demonstrates the significance that the new congressional majority places on the nation’s fire service,” says IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger. “Never before in our nation’s history has a fire fighter bill been identified as the most important issue facing America.”

HR.1, which received strong bipartisan support – more than one-third of the Republican caucus voted in the favor of the bill – makes a series of improvements to the way the federal government assists frontline emergency responders. Reforms include targeting federal funding to urban areas protected by professional fire departments, allowing localities to use federal funds to backfill positions for fire fighters assigned to training, and paying overtime for fire fighters who work extra shifts during an elevated threat.

To prevent federal funding from “getting stuck in the pipeline” or siphoned off for other uses, the legislation requires that states receiving federal grants pass on at least 80 percent of all funding to local entities – such as fire departments – within 45 days.

Perhaps most significantly, HR.1 establishes a new grant program providing federal funds to improve interoperable communications systems.

“The IAFF is excited by the emphasis the new Congress is placing on the nation’s frontline domestic defenders, and we look forward to working with the new leadership on these and other issues during the next two years,” Schaitberger says.