Bill Pascrell: “I want to thank Congresswoman DeLauro and Ranking Member Cole for their support for my amendment and support for the…”

“I want to thank Congresswoman DeLauro and Ranking Member Cole for their support for my amendment and support for the fire services. I rise as the proud co-chair of the Congressional Fire Service Caucus to be on the front lines fighting for the brave men and women who put their lives on the line every day. We know that firefighters are routinely exposed to a variety of carcinogens in chaotic and uncontrolled environments, but we do not have a good sense of the full impacts of their exposure. This is why we passed the Firefighter Cancer Registry Act into law last year. That bill was championed by Representative Chris Collins of New York, and he has cosponsored this amendment today. Mr. Chairman, along my journey to create a National Firefighter Cancer Registry I heard the struggle of a cancer survivor who has dedicated--all of them dedicated their lives to the fire service. While some beat the odds we, unfortunately, lost Fire Chief Gene Dannenfelser, of the Haddon Heights Volunteer Fire Department in 2017. Gene fought a courageous battle with 9/11-related lung cancer. To honor him, and all those brothers and sisters struggling, we fought to get this bill into law. This bill directed the Centers for Disease Control to develop a specialized cancer registry for firefighters to provide scientists and medical professionals data to better understand cancer trends among our firefighters.…”