Political Quotes

“I rise to introduce the Stabenow-Craig Rural and Part-time Firefighter Training Fairness Act. This bill would ensure that our part-time and rural firefighters are not being treated as second class citizens. I want to thank Senator Craig for his hard work on this very important issue, and Senators Levin, Crapo, Rockefeller, and Jeffords for their support of this bill. Mr. President, many part-time and volunteer firefighters in rural and small communities across the country are not attending Office of Domestic Preparedness-approved terrorism response training courses because Federal guidelines do not allow them to be reimbursed for the time they are away from their full-time jobs. Our bill would simply direct the ODP to allow part-time and volunteer first responders, to receive a reasonable stipend when they participate in ODP-approved terrorism response courses. The Federal Government should not penalize rural and small communities and their firefighters from receiving training necessary to respond to a terrorist attack.”