[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 164 (Tuesday, September 22, 2020)]
[House]
[Page H4645]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         BIRTH OF THE HERO ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Bera) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BERA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the passage of my 
bipartisan measure, H.R. 1646, the Helping Emergency Responders 
Overcome Act, or the HERO Act.
  The HERO Act is the best of what we do in this people's House, which 
is accessible to our constituents and others, and that is why we love 
the House of Representatives.
  Over 2\1/2\ years ago, two of my fire chiefs, Mike McLaughlin and 
Maurice Johnson, visited my office here in Washington to talk about 
some issues. In passing, they also talked about the number of 
firefighters and first responders that succumb to suicide, and the 
stresses of the job.
  We talked about it and we started to do a little bit of research. We 
realized we didn't have good statistics on the actual incidence of 
firefighters or first responders that were succumbing to suicide.
  We started to talk to others, the International Association of 
Firefighters, and we talked to law enforcement. We realized the 
stresses that these individuals, men and women, who are out there 
protecting our communities every day, face. They see untold challenges 
that normal human beings don't see. So we started talking about this.
  We looked for those statistics, talked to the Firefighter Behavioral 
Health Alliance founder, Jeff Dill, and again, realized we ought to 
challenge the CDC to collect these statistics, and we ought to do 
something about it. We ought to help relieve the suffering of these 
first responders, firefighters, law enforcement individuals.
  So we went about writing a bill and working with our partners. That 
was before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. What we have seen since the 
pandemic is untold pressures on our frontline healthcare workers, our 
nurses, the folks in the hospitals. And I want to applaud a fellow 
doctor, a Republican Member,  Mike Burgess, who is the ranking member 
on the Energy and Commerce Healthcare Subcommittee, he realized this 
fact. And working together with our staff, we amended the HERO Act to 
include and recognize the unique stresses that these frontline 
healthcare workers are facing.
  We talked about how they don't need to suffer by themselves, how we 
could put in place peer-to-peer contacts where folks could reach out, 
create a space for some of these individuals that might be suffering 
alone to talk about what was going on.

  Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank Chairman Pallone and Ranking Member 
Walden on the Energy and Commerce Committee, as well as the chairwoman 
of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, Ms. Eshoo, for helping 
get this bill to the floor and getting it passed yesterday evening.
  Again, the HERO Act demonstrates what we can do when we come together 
as Democrats and Republicans, when we listen to our constituents, and 
we work with those folks that are out there.
  I, again, want to applaud the frontline healthcare workers, the 
firefighters, the law enforcement individuals, and emergency responders 
that are out there keeping us safe every day. You have got our back, we 
have got your back. So thank you to all of them.

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