[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 171 (Saturday, November 22, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15570-S15571]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             HOMETOWN HEROES SURVIVORS BENEFITS ACT OF 2003

  Mr. LEAHY: Mr. President, I rise today to express my pleasure with 
the House passage of the ``Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act of 
2003,'' S. 459, at daybreak today. This bill, as amended and passed by 
unanimous consent in the House, will improve the Department of 
Justice's Public Safety Officers Benefits program by allowing survivors 
of public safety officers who suffer fatal heart attacks or strokes 
while participating in nonroutine stressful or strenous physical 
activities to qualify for Federal survivor benefits.

[[Page S15571]]

  I want to pay special thanks to Congressman Bob Etheridge, the author 
of the House companion bill, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman 
Sensenbrenner for their leadership and fortitude while negotiating this 
legislation. Without their perseverance and willingness to find 
bipartisan compromise language, passage of this bill in the House would 
not have happened.
  I also commend Congressman Coble, Congressman Bobby Scott, the 
Fraternal Order of Police and the Congressional Fire Services Institute 
for working with us on bipartisan compromise language so that we could 
pass the Senate bill through the House. I look forward to working with 
Senate Judiciary Chairman Hatch, Senator Lindsey Graham, the lead 
Republican cosponsor of this bill, and Senate leadership to quickly 
pass the Senate bill, as amended by the House, and send it to the 
President's desk for enactment into law.
  Public safety officers are our most brave and dedicated public 
servants. I applaud the efforts of all members of fire, law enforcement 
and EMS providers nationwide who are the first to respond to more than 
1.6 million emergency calls annually--whether those calls involve a 
crime, fire, medical emergency, spill of hazardous materials, natural 
disaster, act of terrorism, or transportation accident--without 
reservation. Those men and woman act with an unwavering commitment to 
the safety and protection of their fellow citizens, and forever willing 
to selflessly sacrifice their own lives to provide safe and reliable 
emergency services to their communities.
  Sadly, that kind of dedication can result in tragedy, which we all 
witnessed on September 11 as scores of firefighters, police officers 
and medics raced into the burning World Trade Center and Pentagon with 
no other goal than to save lives. Every year, hundreds of public safety 
officers nationwide lose their lives and thousands more are injured 
while performing duties that subject them to great physical risks. And 
while we know that PSOB benefits can never be a substitute for the loss 
of a loved one, the families of all our fallen heroes deserve to 
collect these funds.
  The PSOB program was established in 1976 to authorize a one-time 
financial payment to the eligible survivors of Federal, State, and 
local public safety officers for all line of duty deaths. In 2001, 
Congress improved the PSOB regulations by streamlining the process for 
families of public safety officers killed or injured in connection with 
prevention, investigation, rescue or recovery efforts related to a 
terrorist attack. We also retroactively increased the total benefits 
available by $100,000 as part of the USA PATRIOT Act. Survivors of 
first responders killed in the line of duty now receive $267,494 in 
PSOB.
  Unfortunately, the issue of covering heart attack and stroke victims 
under PSOB regulations was not addressed at the time.
  Service-connected heart, lung, and hypertension conditions are silent 
killers of public safety officers nationwide. The numerous hidden 
health dangers dealt with by police officers, fire fighters and EMS 
personnel are widely recognized, but officers face these dangers in 
order to serve and protect their fellow citizens.
  The intent of the legislation Senator Graham and I introduced earlier 
this year was to cover officer who suffered a heart attack or stroke as 
a result of nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical activity. As 
drafted and passed by the Senate by unanimous consent on May 16, 
however, members of the House Judiciary Committee felt the bill's 
language would cover officers who did not engage in any physical 
activity, but merely happened to suffer a heart attack while at work. 
Chairman Sensenbrenner, Congressman Etheridge, Congressman Coble, 
Congressman Scott, FOP, CFSI and I worked out a substitute amendment to 
address those concerns.
  The substitute amendment to S. 459 will create a presumption that an 
officer who died as a direct injury sustained in the line of duty if 
the following is established: That officer participated in a training 
exercise that involved nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical 
activity or responded to a situation and such participation or response 
involved nonroutine stressful or strenuous physical law enforcement, 
hazardous material response, emergency medical services, prison 
security, fire suppression, rescue, disaster relief or other emergency 
response activity; that officer suffered a heart attack or stroke while 
engaging or within 24 hours of engaging in that physical activity; and 
such presumption cannot be overcome by competent medical evidence.
  For the purposes of this act, the phrase ``nonroutine stressful or 
strenuous physical'' will exclude actions of a clerical, administrative 
or non-manual nature. Included in the category of ``actions of a 
clerical, administrative or non-manual nature'' are such tasks 
including, but not limited to, the following: sitting at a desk; typing 
on a computer; talking on the telephone; reading or writing paperwork 
or other literature; watching a police or corrections facility's 
monitors of cells or grounds; teaching a class; cleaning or organizing 
an emergency response vehicle; signing in or out a prisoner; driving a 
vehicle on routine patrol; and directing traffic at or participating in 
a local parade.
  Such deaths, while tragic, are not to be considered in the lien of 
duty deaths. The families of officers who died of such causes would 
therefore not be eligible to receive PSOB.
  For the purposes of this Act, the phrase ``nonroutine stressful or 
strenuous physical'' actions will include, but are not limited to, the 
following: involvement in a physical struggle with a suspected or 
convicted criminal; performing a search and rescue mission; performing 
or assisting with emergency medical treatment; performing or assisting 
with fire suppression; involvement in a situation that requires either 
a high speed response or pursuit on foot or in a vehicle; participation 
in hazardous material response; responding to a riot that broke out at 
a public event; and physically engaging in the arrest or apprehension 
of a suspected criminal.
  The situations listed above are the types of heart attack and stroke 
cases that are considered to be in the line of duty. The families of 
officers who died in such cases are eligible to receive PSOB.
  Heart attacks and strokes are a reality of the high-pressure jobs of 
police officers, firefighers and medics. These are killers that first 
responders contend with in their jobs, just like speeding bullets and 
burning buildings. They put their lives on the line for us, and we owe 
their families our gratitude, our respect and our help. No amount of 
money can fill the void that is left by these losses, but ending this 
disparity can help these families keep food on the table and shelter 
over their heads.
  I urge the Senate to take up and pass the Hometown Heroes Survivors 
Benefits Act, S. 459, as amended and passed this morning by the House, 
and show its support and appreciation for these extraordinarily brave 
and heroic public safety officers.

                          ____________________