[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 57 (Tuesday, April 30, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H4133]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  PAY EQUITY FOR FEDERAL FIREFIGHTERS

  (Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, tonight is the eighth annual fire and 
emergency services dinner. Two thousand of our Nation's fire and 
emergency services leaders gather in Washington to recognize the 
service of our Nation's firefighters and emergency responders, safety 
instructors, engineers, arson investigators, and others in the fire 
community.
  However, hundreds of Federal firefighters will not be in attendance 
tonight because they are fighting brushfires in the West. Mr. Speaker, 
they are experiencing what many are calling the driest conditions in 
over a century.
  Here in the Congress, I have introduced a bill, H.R. 858, the Federal 
Firefighters Pay Fairness Act, which would correct a significant pay 
inequity which exists for these and nearly 10,000 Federal firefighters 
throughout our country.
  Mr. Speaker, despite the fact that my bill has over 135 bipartisan 
sponsors, we have been unable to get a hearing in the Committee on 
Government Reform and Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Service. In the 
next several days, I will be sending a bipartisan letter to the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Mica], the chairman, requesting a hearing 
on this bill with approximately 100 Members of this body. I hope, Mr. 
Speaker, that we will see a hearing on that bill in the near future.

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