Assistant Leader Neguse Implores Congress to act on Federal Firefighter Pay: “The stakes are too high for us not to get it done.”

Washington, D.C. — In case you missed it, Tuesday evening, House Assistant Minority Leader Joe Neguse, founder and Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Wildfire Caucus, and Congresswoman Kim Schrier, M.D. (WA-08) were joined by Members from across the Democratic Caucus for a Special Order Hour highlighting reforms to improve wildfire prevention, mitigation, and management. In his remarks, Assistant Leader Neguse underscored the importance of urgently addressing this growing crisis and enacting permanent pay increases for federal wildland firefighters. 

In 2021, the Biden-Harris Administration enacted elements of Assistant Leader Neguse’s comprehensive bill to overhaul federal firefighter pay and benefits, Tim's Act, by temporarily increasing pay for federal firefighters. The supplemental pay funding, initially set to expire on September 30th, 2023, has since been tied up in negotiations regarding Congress’s government funding bills and subsequent “stop gap” measures. Neguse is spearheading the effort to address the issue head-on and permanently increase pay. He has introduced the bipartisan, bicameral bill the Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act, which would permanently increase pay, and opens the door to future pay and benefits improvements included in Tim’s Act.

Assistant Leader Neguse: “Wildfires don’t respect political boundaries or jurisdictional limitations. They impact every citizen of the West and every citizen of our country, and it’s critical for us to marshal the necessary resources to ultimately address those challenges.

“The particular challenge that I just want to call attention to tonight, Madam Speaker, is one, of course, that you are familiar with and one that you’ve heard from many of my colleagues this evening. The way in which federal wildland firefighters are treated, in my view, by the federal government is patently unfair and unconscionable. For years we have relied on these first responders, these brave public servants, these courageous individuals to protect our homes, our small businesses, our communities, and our states. They risk life and limb to protect us. I say that having had multiple historic wildfires in my district back home in Colorado [...] the largest wildfire in the history of our state, the second largest, the most destructive wildfire in the history of our state, all happened within the last four years in the congressional district that I call home. I’ve seen firsthand the sacrifices made by these wildland firefighters, and it is unconscionable that we don’t pay them a living wage.

“Now, we’ve made a lot of progress because of Dr. Schrier’s work, leading the way with others, myself included, to ensure that in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law we finally provided a holistic pay structure that compensates our wildland firefighters. Not a panacea, didn’t solve the problem, but made progress—progress that we could build on. But instead, unfortunately, right now we are poised to potentially go backward, because as you know, Madam Speaker, those core provisions of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that largely codified the executive order that President Biden had issued previously to increase wildland firefighter pay, those provisions, which were enhanced by a variety of other statutory provisions we were able to enact through the NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act] last year to provide, as I said, more comprehensive pay scales for our wildland firefighters, they are set to expire at the end of the month.

“The clock is ticking, Madam Speaker, and it is incumbent upon every member of this august body to come together, work together, find common ground, and do what is right by these wildland firefighters. They deserve it. They’ve earned it. And the time for excuses, in my view, is long past gone. I’m committed, Madam Speaker, to working with anyone of either party in good faith to address this challenge and to ensure that our wildland firefighters are paid what they are owed. I’m going to keep at it, working with Dr. Schrier and my many colleagues, and hope springs eternal that we’ll get this done, because, of course, the stakes are too high for us not to get it done.” 

For a video of the Assistant Leader’s full remarks, click HERE. 

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