On the recordJanuary 12, 2015
I want to thank Representative Courtney also for recognizing the Volunteer Responder Incentive Protection Reauthorization Act, as I mentioned earlier, which is something that has been bipartisanly cosponsored in the past by Representatives Reichert, Latham, myself, and others. The distinguished chairman and I, who are classmates, who came into this Congress together--he has also been a great proponent and advocate for making sure that these volunteers, who never were intended in both the case of Mr. Barletta and also in the case of the IRS, something that is administratively burdening for the IRS, this is, as Mr. Kelly so passionately said, something that is common sense, that we ought to work on together, and that we ought to provide the relief for, those who provide more than 70 percent of the volunteer aid across this country, especially when it comes to fighting fires. And our National Volunteer Fire Council is supportive of this as is the Fire Chiefs Association. I am looking forward to working with my colleagues across the aisle to ensure this. Again, with that, I commend and congratulate the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Barletta) and thank him for his fine work in this area, and I look forward to supporting him on future endeavors. I yield back the balance of my time.
