Bob Menendez: “I come to the floor today seeking unanimous consent of my legislation to reauthorize the Firefighter Cancer Registry, a…”

“I come to the floor today seeking unanimous consent of my legislation to reauthorize the Firefighter Cancer Registry, a law that was passed unanimously by Congress and signed into law in 2018. The Firefighter Cancer Registry improves our Nation's ability to conduct research and gather data on the cancer risks that are associated with firefighting, and in doing so, we learn how to mitigate those risks. It is a vital program, one that furthers our understanding of how to protect the brave first responders who run toward danger when everyone else is running away from it. Yet, on October 1 of last year, the program expired. That should have never happened. In July, this Chamber passed this very legislation as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, but, unfortunately, it was stripped out of the House version. My bipartisan, commonsense legislation would reauthorize the program for an additional 5 years while bringing it in line with the current appropriation level. And since this body has already once approved reauthorizing it at this funding level, a unanimous consent vote should be a simple task that we can all agree upon. In the House, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has already marked up language identical to this bill, including the specific $5.5 million figure which, I should add, is in line with the program's current appropriation.…”