Political Quotes

“as a supporter of the bill of the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge) and the effort of this Congress to be more aggressive in support of our firefighters, I very much encourage the consideration and ultimate passage of legislation that will accomplish that. This morning we held a hearing in the Committee on Science to examine just how the Federal Government can help ensure that our Nation's fire departments are adequately equipped and staffed to perform the jobs they have been asked to do. The hearing shed light on the challenges facing our fire departments. I would like to talk about a couple of those challenges. First, the need of the firefighting community to work together on these efforts. Our challenge and our goal is to increase support for firefighters in this country. After 9/11 of last year, I think all of America recognized that we depend a great deal on our first responders. The firefighters in New York set an example for people all over the world that it takes cooperation if we are going to protect the liberty and freedom that we have. One concern I have is the contest that has been developing between volunteers and full-time firefighters. I think we need to do everything we can so all of our first responders, firefighters and medics work together to accomplish the goals that we need to accomplish at the Federal level.”