[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 62 (Monday, April 7, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H1425-H1426]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                PROTECTING AND SERVING OUR FIREFIGHTERS

  (Ms. Elfreth of Maryland was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Ms. ELFRETH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of Mark Falkenhan, a 
Baltimore County volunteer firefighter and Secret Service agent who 
perished on the third floor of an apartment building in 2011.
  I rise on behalf of Nathan Flynn, a Howard County firefighter who 
tragically died in the basement of a large house fire in 2018.
  I rise on behalf of Frederick County firefighter Captain Josh Laird, 
who we lost in 2022 when he, too, fell through a floor and into a 
basement fire.
  After each of these tragedies and tragedies just like them across 
this country, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and 
Health, or NIOSH, produced a report examining what went wrong and, 
crucially, how to prevent these tragedies from occurring moving 
forward. Those reports went on to save untold lives.
  In Mark's case, the NIOSH report spurred a new emphasis on 
identifying and communicating the presence of a basement upon first 
arrival.
  In Nathan's case, the NIOSH report exposed how outdated practices in 
building ventilation and fire flow management were killing firefighters 
across the country, ushering in nationwide changes in fire ground 
operations.
  In Josh's case, the NIOSH report was instructive in identifying and 
operating over a basement fire.
  Maryland's fire community, like so many in our country, is small and 
well-connected. Each fatality is felt widely and personally.
  Following a tragedy, it can be difficult without the proper technical 
resources to make accurate and objective recommendations and changes, 
which is why the NIOSH investigations and reports are so crucial.
  These NIOSH reports are critical for firefighting communities in 
Maryland and around our country because they save lives. When released, 
crews across this country gather around kitchen tables and read the 
reports together.
  In Maryland, our firefighters have told me that in those moments and 
for the first time they were able to walk through an incident guided by 
photographs, construction drawings, timetables, graphs, and supporting 
scientific evidence and that recommendations from these reports can be 
revolutionary to how they fight fires and save lives.
  NIOSH produces these reports through its Fire Fighter Fatality 
Investigation and Prevention Program, which was already significantly 
understaffed, with only five investigators investigating these 
incidents across the Nation. At this staffing level, it would take up 
to 4 years to thoroughly research and release a report after each line-
of-duty death.

  That was until 2 months ago.

[[Page H1426]]

  Under the banner of government efficiency and the claim to reduce 
waste, DOGE has fired three of the five investigators, which means 
longer wait times for our first responders who deserve answers as to 
how their brothers and sisters died in the line of duty and, 
critically, what changes need to be made to prevent such a death moving 
forward.
  Another victim of the reckless work of DOGE was the National 
Firefighter Registry for Cancer, which tracked cancer cases and deaths 
of firefighters.
  Cancer is now the leading cause of death for firefighters, and this 
database was critical to tracking health and safety improvements for 
firefighters and improving working conditions. In another sweeping 
effort to cut costs, DOGE eliminated the entire office. Now, this 
cancer registry is no longer maintained or updated.
  When the President talks about DOGE and government efficiency, I am 
thinking about the firefighters whose lives he is putting in harm's 
way. We owe it to firefighters across this country who sacrifice so 
much to keep our families safe. At the very least, we can be there for 
them when they are exposed to cancer or lose members to line-of-duty 
deaths.
  These jobs are difficult and inherently dangerous, but they do not 
need to be deadly.
  These actions by the administration are cruel and unsafe. This is not 
what the American people wanted. This is not what they voted for.
  Lost in this desperate mission to cut costs at all costs, we have 
forgotten the greater public good, the public good that government must 
maintain and deliver for our constituents, our obligations to one 
another, and, most importantly, our obligation to those who run into 
burning buildings and who keep our communities safe.
  The Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program and 
the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer are the Federal Government 
at its best.
  These civil servants who serve our first responders should not just 
be reinstated. Frankly, their offices should be doubled.
  Perhaps these positions were eliminated as an oversight. Perhaps 
these hardworking, passionate civil servants were merely line items on 
a budget to some cost-cutter who didn't know any better.
  That is why I rise today to give voice to these cuts, to put faces to 
these draconian measures, and to plead with my colleagues across the 
aisle and with the President himself to do what is right.
  Restore these offices. Reinstate these civil servants. Protect and 
serve those who protect and serve us.

                          ____________________