[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 143 (Wednesday, October 5, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 5, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
             PASSAGE OF PRIVATE RELIEF BILL FOR WADE BOMAR

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I am proud to say last night the Senate 
passed a bill of monumental importance to me and to Wade Bomar. Who is 
Wade Bomar, you ask? Well, I will tell you.
  Wade Bomar is a brave man. He is 31 years old and a father of three 
who lives in Billings, MT. Five years ago, on a hot August day in 1989, 
Wade volunteered to help the Bureau of Indian Affairs extinguish the 
Pryor Gap fire, which was threatening the nearby Crow Indian 
Reservation.
  The fire was out in the woods. Forest fires are terrible, dangerous, 
unpredictable events. Montanans have always known that. The whole 
country has come to learn that this year. Nobody was killed in this 
one, thank God. But during the fire, a burning, 100-year-old pine 
crashed down on Wade. It left him paralyzed from the waist down and 
unable to work again.
  Meanwhile, as Wade was fighting the fire, the Senate was debating a 
bill to compensate firefighters permanently disabled in the line of 
duty. The bill passed and went into effect a few months later.
  So if Wade has been injured a little while later--or if the act has 
applied retroactively--Wade would have qualified for a payment of 
around $100,00 under the Public Safety Officers' Benefit Act. Payments 
do not happen often under that act. But when they do, it means an awful 
lot.
  But Wade did not choose the day he was to get hurt. And the act was 
not retroactive. So the fire left Wade and his young family with 
nothing but a lot of hospital bills and no means of paying them--not to 
mention an incredible amount of physical and emotional pain.
  He has no medical insurance; and because of his bills, he cannot 
afford health or dental insurance for his children. They are shut out 
of school field trips. His son cannot afford the risk of joining the 
local hockey team.
  Wade is a courageous man. He can make it on his own. But his injury 
has left him with a hospital debt that he simply will not be able to 
pay. He needs and deserves our help.
  So in May of last year, after exhausting all the bureaucratic and 
administrative avenues, I decided that we had to be direct. I 
introduced a private relief bill to give Wade Bomar the compensation he 
has earned. And by passing my private relief bill, the Senate has given 
Wade Bomar that compensation.
  With these funds, Wade will bring himself out of debt and give his 
family some security. Wade's son will be able to join the hockey team. 
His 6-year-old daughter can go on field trips with her first-grade 
classmates. It fairly settles the score once and for all.
  The 103d Congress is coming to a close. There is a lot of rancor and 
division in the air. And in times like these, people often forget why 
we are here. But I can tell you the answer. We are here to help people 
like Wade Bomar, people who are the victims of forces outside their 
control, and whom we can help.
  I called Wade last night after the Senate passed the bill late last 
night. He was genuinely overcome with emotion. And to be honest, I was 
too. Bills like this--days like today--are the reason I ran for 
Congress in 1974. And they are the reason I have stayed on the job ever 
since.
  Mr. President, I am grateful to my colleagues in the Senate for 
giving a hand to Wade Bomar. I am grateful to my colleagues not just as 
Senators who have helped out with a bill, but as Americans who have 
done something good for a fellow citizen in need.
  I give particular thanks to my colleague from Missouri, Senator 
Danforth, for working with me and also to my staff member Dave Flanagan 
who worked very hard following this to be sure that this day finally 
came to pass.
  And I urge the House of Representatives to follow suit in the few 
days remaining before the 103d Congress closes down.
  I thank Senators Dodd and Pell for yielding.

                          ____________________