Bill Pascrell: “I am the proud sponsor of the Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement Act, better known as the Fire Bill. It has…”

“I am the proud sponsor of the Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement Act, better known as the Fire Bill. It has almost 280 sponsors. The bill will provide competitive grants directly to over 32,000 paid, part-paid, and volunteer fire departments across America. On April 12 of this year, we had a hearing on this legislation before the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Emergency Management of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. At this hearing, a colleague from across the aisle stated that my legislation does not have the support of the administration. He challenged me to get it. Today I am here to present the administration's unwavering support of H.R. 1168 to the House. I have a letter from Jack Lew, who is the Budget Director for the White House. This letter expresses, and I quote, ``the Administration supports passage of the Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement Act.'' We owe it to the firefighters of America, Mr. Speaker, who put their lives at risk every day to save ours, to bring this legislation to the floor. It is about time we took care of the other side of the public safety equation, our firefighters.”