Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 1152) to reauthorize the United States Fire Administration, and for other purposes.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on S. 1152, the bill now under consideration.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of the U.S. Fire Administration Reauthorization Act, which began life in the House as H.R. 2692, introduced by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith), subcommittee chairman. Most Americans have never heard of the U.S. Fire Administration, but it has enhanced the protection of all of our communities, our neighborhoods; and firefighters know the agency well.

The funds we are authorizing in this bill will continue to train our local firefighters both at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg and in State and local training centers. These funds will also help promote residential fire sprinklers, fire prevention activities, and other activities that save lives. The U.S. Fire Administration has also administered the FIRE program, which helps our local fire departments purchase desperately needed fire equipment. It is one of the most successful Federal assistance programs devised by this Congress or any previous Congress.

One of the great things about this program is that the politicians, and I have fondness for politicians, but the politicians are sort of taking a back seat. It is the people involved, the firefighters themselves in every day protecting our homes and our neighborhoods and communities that established the criteria for this massive grant program and do the actual evaluating. It is a program with unquestioned integrity. I say that because I have watched it in operation, and all of our congressional districts across the country are taking advantage of it, not for selfish reasons but to protect our people in their homes, in their neighborhoods, in their communities, where they live.

I will tell my colleagues a personal experience in my own congressional district. Utica, New York, had an arson rate three times the national average. It was a serious problem in New York. I sat down with the previous administrator of FEMA and said, let's work with this community because this is a serious problem and it has to be addressed and it is far beyond the ability of the individual community to come to grips with it in any meaningful way without some added guidance and inspiration and, quite frankly, some financial support from beyond our borders. FEMA did it. We did it. Collectively, Utica has enjoyed its best day in the last couple of years. The arson rate is down dramatically. People feel more comfortable and safer in their homes. It is all because of some work that came out of the U.S. Fire Administration.

I would say for a whole lot of the right reasons, I urge approval of this bill which will help our localities in very tangible ways, meaningful ways that touch the lives of individual families. We owe it to our firefighters both paid and volunteer. Incidentally, let me just stress, paid and volunteer. I have heard some people suggest on occasion that we have professional firefighters and we have volunteer firefighters. There is no such differential. We have paid and unpaid but those volunteers from coast to coast are some of the most dedicated, professional, able, committed people we will find anyplace. Thank God for the volunteer firefighters of America. That is not to indicate I do not appreciate what the paid firefighters do day in and day out or making a professional career of it, but those volunteers in communities all across this land do outstanding work, give of their time and their talent and their energy to protect us and our communities. I want to salute them, and I want to dedicate passage of this bill to them.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I want to add something here. There was some confusion about section 204(c) of this bill regarding coordination of firefighting training activities.

I want to clarify that the reference to ``other Federal agencies'' in this section includes the Office of Domestic Preparedness and does not conflict with the counterterrorism training provisions in the Homeland Security Act of 2002.

I also would like to place in the Record at this juncture an exchange of letters between me as chairman of the Committee on Science and Chairman Young of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. I also serve on that committee, too, so in some respects I am writing to myself. This is an exchange of letters that further clarifies it.

House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation and

Infrastructure,

Washington, DC, November 21, 2003.

Hon. Sherwood, L. Boehlert,

Chairman, Committee on Science,

Washington, DC.

Dear Mr. Chairman: I am writing to you concerning the

jurisdictional interest of the Transportation and

Infrastructure Committee in matters contained in S. 1152, the

United States Fire Administration Reauthorization Act of

2003.

Our Committee recognizes the importance of S. 1152 and the

need for the legislation to move expeditiously. Therefore,

while we have a valid claim to jurisdiction over certain

provisions of the bill, I agree not to request a referral and

allow the bill to be considered in the House under suspension

of the rules. This, of course, is conditional on our mutual

understanding my decision to forego a sequential referral

waives, reduces or otherwise affects the jurisdiction of the

Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and that a copy

of this letter and of your response acknowledging our

jurisdictional interest will be included as part of the

Congressional Record during consideration of this bill by the

House.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Sincerely,

Don Young,

Chairman.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith), the chairman of the Research Subcommittee and a real friend of the firefighters.

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, as the second anniversary of September 11 approaches, I rise this evening to pay tribute to our Nation's fallen firefighters, law enforcement officers and emergency medical service personnel. Mr. Speaker, every day public service officers protect our families and possessions from fire, they keep our streets safe and are the first to respond to an emergency. Across this Nation, our public safety officers are dedicated and prepared. They truly embody the values and spirit that make America the great Nation that it is. These men and women are dedicated, and when we call on them, they risk their lives for all of us. Our firefighters, law enforcement officers and EMS workers are truly our hometown heroes. However, all too often these heroes must give their lives in the line of duty.

For the family of these brave souls, Congress created the Public Safety Officers Benefit. Since its inception 25 years ago, this important benefit has provided surviving families with financial assistance during their desperate times of need. However, a glitch in the law prevents some families from receiving the assistance. Heart attacks and strokes are among the greatest threat to public safety officers, especially firefighters. In fact, almost half of all firefighter deaths in the line of duty are due to heart attacks and strokes. Fighting fire is dangerous, exhausting and extremely stressful work. Indeed, a firefighter's chances of suffering a heart attack or stroke greatly increases when he or she puts on the gear and rushes into a building to fight a fire. Likewise, law enforcement officers, correction officers and EMS workers face daily situations that put stress and strain on their heart. Imagine the scenario where, while fighting a house fire, a company of firefighters tragically loses two of its members. One is killed by a piece of falling debris. The other dies of a heart attack in the same building. Under current law, the family of the firefighter who suffered the fatal blow to the head receives their benefit, but the family of the heart attack victim receives nothing.

It is wrong that these families are denied this benefit when their loved ones are suffering the loss of a loved one in our communities.

A constituent of mine, Mike Williams, of Bunnlevel, North Carolina, who works for the Office of State Fire Marshal, alerted me to this glitch in the law after Ms. Deborah Brooks, the widow of Thomas Brooks of Lumberton, North Carolina, was denied benefits because of this technicality in the law. Mr. Brooks, a master firefighter with the Lumberton Fire Department, tragically died of a heart attack after returning from several calls on an evening shift. They found him dead the next morning.

As part of his duties with the state fire marshal, Mike helps families file for public safety officer benefits, and he has received many benefit rejection letters from the U.S. Department of Justice. This rejection letter in Thomas Brooks' case was one too many. Mike wrote to me and asked that we investigate the situation. We tried with other Members of this Congress to correct that technicality in the law administratively. We found out it could not be done.

During the last Congress, I, along with my colleagues, introduced the Hometown Heroes Benefit Act to correct this technicality in the Public

Safety Officer Benefit. This bipartisan piece of legislation will allow the families of public safety officers who were killed by a heart attack or stroke while on duty within 24 hours after participating in a training exercise or responding to an emergency situation to receive the benefits that they are due.

Last year, the Committee on the Judiciary and the full House unanimously passed it. Unfortunately, we were not able to move the bill through the United States Senate before adjourning, despite the strong support from several Senators of both parties.

Earlier this year, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon), the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Oxley), and I introduced the Hometown Heroes Survival Benefit Act. The United States Senate has already unanimously passed a Senate bill, S. 459, a companion bill introduced by Senators Leahy and Graham.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 929 is the kind of bipartisan legislation that we should be working on in this House. As of this afternoon, we have 273 cosponsors. I will remind my colleagues it takes 218 in this House to pass a bill. Both Democrats and Republicans are on board. More cosponsors are on the way.

I urge all of my colleagues to continue to sponsor H.R. 919, and I ask the House leadership to put this bill to a vote. It will pass unanimously. During this time of increasing awareness and concern regarding the threat of terrorism, we are calling on our public safety officers to work longer and harder than ever before. Our hometown heroes deserve to know that we support and appreciate their extraordinary bravery and heroism.

As we take time to remember those who were killed or injured in the attacks on September 11 this week, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 919 and let public safety officers know we will continue to stand with them and with their families. We can do no less.

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for being one of the original congressional

leaders for first responders and firefighters. And to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson), who is the vice chairman or ranking member of our Research Subcommittee, I thank her for her help.

We have come a long way in this Congress helping first responders, and I think it has struck all of us after 9/11, the tremendous contribution that first responders add to the security of this country. So we are now asking even more of our firefighters and medical personnel. I would like to also commend Administrator Paulison, who has done an excellent job in terms of increasing the productivity and the efficiency of the United States Fire Administration.

This legislation is consistent with the President's request of a 3 percent increase in funding for the U.S. Fire Administration, but still at the same time with the help of the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell) on that side, certainly the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon) and the chairman of this committee and myself and many others on the Republican side of the aisle, we worked together to make sure that we try to give firefighters the kind of training and support that they need to more effectively and efficiently conduct their business.

I would also like to commend the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Camp) for initiating the standards requirement that allows different fire departments to know the quality of some of the equipment and the machinery and the items that they might buy in that fire department to make sure that they do not, for lack of a better expression, get ripped off with equipment that is not as good as it seems.

Let me conclude by saying this is the bill I introduced and we passed in the House. It is a good bill. This Congress and America have increased our understanding that first responders and firefighters are very important to this country. Eighty percent of our firefighters in the United States are volunteers, but the full-time firefighter represents 80 percent of the people. So we have got to continue to support both the full-time firefighters and the volunteers, and that is what this bill does.

Madam Speaker, the legislation before us today would reauthorize the United States Fire Administration, which is charged with helping to prevent and control fire-related losses through leadership, advocacy, education, and support. This bill has been endorsed by a number of leading fire organizations including the Congressional Fire Services Institute, International Association of Fire Fighters, National Fire Protection Association, and National Volunteer Fire Council.

S. 1152, which is companion legislation to a bill that the distinguished Ranking Member of the Research Subcommittee and I introduced earlier this year, adheres to the Administration's budget request and provides 3 percent increases each year from 2005-2008. It would also restore the position of U.S. Fire Administrator as a Presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed position, after it was inadvertently eliminated by the Homeland Security Act of 2002.

USFA coordinates federal fire service training, public education, research, and data collection and analysis activities. In addition, USFA has administered the fire grant program, which supports fire departments by providing them with the tools and resources necessary to protect the health and safety of the public and firefighting personnel. USFA Administrator David Paulison has done an excellent job since being appointed in 2001, and I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly recognize his outstanding service.

This legislation also directs USFA to develop standards for firefighting equipment and technology. The new standards will help to ensure that firefighters have access to the highest quality equipment available. Equipment purchased through the fire grant program must meet the new standards, although under unique circumstances, the Administrator is given flexibility to waive this requirement.

There was an effort to attach language similar to Representative Bob Etheridge's bill H.R. 919, the Hometown Heroes Survivor Benefit Act, to the bill before us today. I am one of 281 cosponsors of H.R. 919, which would ensure that the family of a public safety officer who suffers a fatal heart attack or stroke in the line of duty receives survivor benefits. These families are often forced to wrangle with the Justice Department to obtain compensation. In the interest of passing the USFA reauthorization expeditiously the language was eventually dropped. However, I would like to express my commitment to continuing to work for passage of H.R. 919.

In closing, I am pleased that we were able to work closely with members of the minority as well as members of the fire services community in drafting this bipartisan legislation. I urge every Member to support S. 1152 so that we can insure the long-term viability of this important program.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, let me apologize for being late. I was told to be here by 12, and I was in a briefing, so I came running.

Let me thank the chairman of the Subcommittee on Research of the Committee on Science, the staff and the other leadership of the committee for working on this bill. I rise in support of Senate bill 1152, the United States Fire Administration Reauthorization Act of 2003.

This legislation is closely related to H.R. 2692, which I joined Research Subcommittee Chairman Smith in introducing and which was ordered reported by the Committee on Science on July 22. I would like to thank Chairman Smith for working with me in a collegial way in the development of the fire authorization bill. The version of the authorization bill before the House preserves the key features of H.R. 2692.

The Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974, which created the U.S. Fire Administration, was intended to address a serious problem affecting the safety of all Americans. Much progress has been made as a result of this legislation to advance public education about fire safety, to improve the effectiveness of the fire services throughout the Nation, and to foster the wider use of home fire safety devices.

Nevertheless, the United States still has one of the highest fire death rates among advanced nations, and fire deaths exceed the loss of life from all natural disasters combined. Clearly, much work remains to be done in order to make needed improvements in the Nation's fire safety record. I believe that S. 1152 will ensure that the U.S. Fire Administration has the resources and policies in place to help achieve this goal.

One matter of concern is that the effectiveness of the U.S. fire administration could suffer due to its submersion in the new Department of Homeland Security, which understandably must concentrate its efforts on combating threats from terrorism. The legislation seeks to preserve the status and visibility of the fire administration and its vital programs to advance fire safety within the Department of Homeland Security.

To achieve this result, the bill reestablishes the position of fire administrator as a Presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed post. This is appropriate given the role of the Fire Administrator as the lead advocate for fire services within the Federal Government.

Another important function of the U.S. Fire Administration is to support research and development and testing of new firefighting technologies. This bill reemphasizes this role and authorizes new funding to help carry it out, including support for the process for developing consensus standards for the performance of new fire protection and control technologies.

Consistent with supporting the development of appropriate voluntary consensus standards for new firefighting equipment, the bill requires that equipment provided under the fire grants program conform to such standards where they exist. Fire grants provide fire departments across the Nation with the equipment and training they need to meet their important responsibilities in protecting the public from fire hazards. The Fire Administrator is given flexibility in applying the standards requirement for these grants so that the fire departments may propose solutions that make the most sense for their particular circumstances. Provision for this flexibility in the bill is in accordance with the recommendations received during the Committee on Science hearing on the legislation. The bill makes an additional modification to the statute creating the Fire Grants Program by specifying that awards to support training may include training firefighting personnel and maritime firefighting. The need for such training was ably advocated by the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Wu), championed this provision.

Madam Speaker, this bill is a bipartisan piece of legislation that authorizes the activities of a small, but extremely valuable, Federal agency that contributes to the safety of all Americans. I am pleased to commend the measure to my colleagues and ask for their support in the passage of this bill in the House.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell).

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the United States Fire Administration Reauthorization Act. And I want to commend the gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hall) not only for bringing this important legislation to the floor, but for their exemplary leadership they have displayed on behalf of the fire community over these many years.

Providing firefighters with the training and equipment they need to protect our communities is about as important a job as the Congress is charged with. This Congress and the previous Congress have risen to the occasion. And I am heartened by the advancement of this goal in recent years. So to the Chair and ranking members, they have done a spectacular job.

We started with the passage of the FIRE Act in 2000, to provide Federal grants directly to local fire departments to help address equipment and training and other firefighter-related needs. Since then communities have received close to 13,000 awards nationwide. There are 32,000 fire departments. Figure out the math. This has been an amazing achievement.

Two weeks ago we were able to pass the ``Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response,'' the SAFER program. That authorizes $7.6 billion through 2010 to combat the dangerous crisis of inadequate staffing in our Nation's career fire departments and volunteer departments at a time when it is more crucial than ever. We have come a long way. We have come a long way, indeed.

America's fire death rate is still one of the highest per capita in the industrial world. Fire kills 3,700 people per year, injures 20,000, and approximately 100 firefighters die annually while doing their work.

The USFA's National Fire Academy offers educational opportunities for firefighters in fire prevention and life safety activities, and, of course, we want it also to deal with the terrorist threat that is at hand. As a member of the Select Committee on Homeland Security, I find nothing to be more important than the defense of our families and our streets.

Through research, testing, and evaluation, USFA works with the public and private entities to promote and improve fire and life safety. Additionally, the data collection of the National Fire Safety Data Center is absolutely critical to identify problem areas for which prevention and mitigation strategies are needed. Firefighters, whose bravery and valor protect our Nation every day, deserve all that we can give them, and a strong, flourishing Fire Administration will assist in this regard.

And again, in conclusion, Madam Speaker, I think this is a great day for the fire services throughout the United States and a great day for our firefighters. They have earned it, and we are glad to participate in getting this legislation through today.