[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 303]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   THE PROTECTING VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS AND EMERGENCY RESPONDERS ACT

  (Mr. REED asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. REED. Mr. Speaker, I rise to highlight yet another of the 
unintended consequences of the Democratic health care law.
  Because of the employer mandate in ObamaCare, our volunteer fire 
departments and emergency response organizations are at risk of having 
their volunteers be considered employees and are, therefore, being 
forced to choose between retaining those volunteers and using their 
precious resources to comply with this mandate or cutting those 
volunteers and the vital services they provide to our communities.
  As I have heard from people in my district, Cattaraugus County Office 
of Emergency Services, the impact would be absolutely detrimental to 
critical services in rural areas like Cattaraugus County.
  I ask Congress to fix this unfair burden on our emergency volunteers 
and support H.R. 3685, the Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and 
Emergency Responders Act, introduced by my good friend, Representative 
Lou Barletta.

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