Political Quotes

“the fact that the first piece of legislation this new body is considering is a firefighting bill helps demonstrate the esteem with which the Congress holds the Nation's firefighters. This bill, which corrects an inequity in the mandatory retirement age for federal firefighters compared to their law enforcement counterparts, continues the good work of the last Congress in addressing issues of concern to the firefighting community. We owe a great debt to our firefighters--federal and municipal, paid and volunteer. The 1.2 million men and women of the fire services serve as our nation's domestic defenders, often placing themselves at great risk. And yet they continue to man the front lines for our communities against fires, accidents, and disasters. Increasingly, we are asking them to take on further responsibilities--to respond to terrorist attacks or to help stem environmental disasters, for example. It's important that as we ask them to take on more, we stay committed to insuring we support them as best we can. We made a lot of progress towards that end in the last session. We were able to secure $100 million in funding for a grant program that will help fire departments nationwide purchase equipment, train personnel, and promote fire safety. We increased our support for the Volunteer Fire Assistance Program and began a study of ways to better allocate radio frequencies to fire services.”