[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 120 (Thursday, July 13, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H3572]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             NEED FOR HIGHER PAY FOR WILDLAND FIREFIGHTERS

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, each year, especially in the Western 
States, we have to suffer fire season, and the season is getting longer 
and longer. We have an issue of not having enough people to help put 
out the fires.
  What had happened under the IIJA was that our wildland firefighters 
had gotten a temporary bump in pay, which is deserved. Those folks are 
at risk and working hard out there, but that is going to run out in a 
couple of months. Federal wildland firefighters will see basically a 
drop in pay unless we do something about that to keep their salary, 
their wages, commensurate with what they have been used to the last 
couple years and indeed deserve.
  We need to move quickly on measures to either do a long-term 
solution, or at least do a stopgap, to make sure firefighter pay 
doesn't actually go back down to the levels of almost 3 years ago.
  Instead of gimmickry, like saying we will give them a massive bonus, 
why don't we find what level their pay should be on an hourly rate and 
set it there, and that will attract people back into the fold of 
wanting to help out with our forests and the wildland firefighting we 
so desperately need.

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