Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Lofgren for yielding time. I am standing before you here today in support of this incredible bicameral, bipartisan bill, the Fire Grant and Safety Act, which I am so pleased to be an original cosponsor of. I certainly want to recognize the incredible work of our junior Senator from Michigan, Senator Gary Peters, for moving this bill forward for our consideration. I certainly recognize Mr. Kean, who is the lead sponsor on the Republican side of this critical bill, and, frankly, senior Members of this body who joined in the debate, as well. This piece of legislation, as has been shared, just reauthorizes very critical elements of the U.S. Fire Administration and its programs to support firefighters and lifesaving EMS workers to make them better protected. It is just really one of the best things that we can do in this Chamber. Just last week, I was visited by Fire Chief Robert Jennison. He lives in my district in West Bloomfield, and he is a fire chief in Livonia, a community I used to represent. He mentioned this bill and how important it is for his fire stations and for his activities. We should be really proud to be coming together in a bipartisan way to reauthorize our fire safety efforts here in the United States of America. We also have to be real with ourselves because over a 10-year period, fire-related deaths in this country rose by 33 percent. That has been unnecessary, and it has been an unnerving loss of life.…”