Recognizing and honoring firefighters for their many contributions throughout the history of the Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that it shall be in order at any time to consider in the House the resolution (H. Res. 764); that the resolution shall be considered as read; and that the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the resolution and its preamble to its adoption without intervening motion except 10 minutes of debate equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Government Reform.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the order of the House today, I call up the resolution (H. Res. 764) recognizing and honoring firefighters for their many contributions throughout the history of the Nation, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 764. Each year in this country heroic firefighters respond to more than 24 million calls. These brave men and women provide all kind of lifesaving services such as emergency medical care, life safety education and fire prevention education. Many of these firefighters are volunteers and risk their lives every day. For this reason it is important that we adopt this resolution and honor the bravery and perseverance of these individuals that they show on a daily basis.

I congratulate the gentleman from Pennsylvania on bringing forth H. Res. 764.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon).

(Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I just would add that I want to give my thanks once again to Mr. Weldon for bringing this to our attention today and to Mr. Hoyer for his continued leadership on this issue. We are happy to expedite this and move it through the House, and I urge its adoption.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to thank my distinguished friend and chairman, Mr. Davis, who is a cosponsor of this legislation, and my good friend and partner, the distinguished minority whip, Mr. Hoyer, for their leadership in bringing forth the resolution to pay proper tribute to the 1.1 million men and women across the country in 32,000 departments that protect our communities.

The Fire Service of America is older than America as a country. The fire service is in every community, both large and small. They are the backbone of our country, the heart and soul of the Nation. They are the people that make this country great.

Tonight, 2,500 of these brave leaders are assembled at the Washington Hilton, and they are looking forward to this recognition, which we will take to them as Mr. Hoyer and I travel to the Washington Hilton and pay our respects.

In addition, this resolution goes one step further. In recognizing a recent Federal court decision that junior firefighters are in fact fire fighters, this resolution is affirming the Court decision that a junior firefighter is in fact recognized when the States in this country allow junior firefighters to be so designated. This is an important piece of legislation.

In honor of one of my constituents, Christopher Kangas, I am happy to have this bill come up so that all of us can provide true support for all of those men and women, including those younger junior firefighters, who aspire to take over the protection of our towns and cities across America.

I thank my colleagues for their support.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friend, Mr. Davis, the chairman of the committee, for bringing this resolution to the floor in such a timely fashion.

I certainly want to thank my good friend, Curt Weldon, the cochair of the Fire Service Caucus, who has been the leader of the Fire Service Caucus, and the Fire Service of America and emergency medical response teams have no better friend than Curt Weldon in the Congress of the United States or, frankly, in any place else.

I am pleased to rise in support of our Nation's firefighters on this day that 2,100 of them from around the country are gathered in Washington for the annual National Fire and Emergency Services Dinner.

As Mr. Weldon said, we will be bringing them this resolution in just a few minutes as we go down to the Hilton to address them. I am proud to have cosponsored this resolution.

And I want to say that the Fire Caucus has long championed initiatives to improve the safety and well-being of our Nation's firefighters. Specifically, we have worked to establish and fund the assistance to the Firefighters Grant program, which has provided more than $3 billion in equipment and training grants for career and volunteer departments across the country.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her comments. I again thank the chairman and Mr. Weldon for their leadership on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great honor to enthusiastically stand before you, Mr. Hoyer, and to join with the two outstanding co-Chairs of the Fire Caucus to acknowledge our brothers and sisters who are now being hosted at the

Hilton Hotel to say thank you. Thank you to the 1 million firefighters, who every single day, and emergency operators, stand up and fight for the American people and protect the American people.

Coming from a city of firefighters and a district of firefighters and a district that has a number of devastating fires because we are elderly and we have old housing, never have we had a situation where a firefighter has not been willing to put their life on the line.

So let me simply thank you for this Resolution 764. Thank you again for acknowledging that we will never forget, and not on our clock will we forget to say thank you to America's firefighters. Congratulations to you both. Thank you for your leadership. And I hope to see you down at a great celebration for all of these great men and women.