Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. This is such a commonsense and important bill, and this challenge was brought to me as well by one of my local firefighters, the fire chief of Magnolia Volunteer Fire Department, Gary Vincent. The bill introduced by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Barletta) ensures the work our Nation's volunteers, including volunteer firefighters and emergency responders, are honored, protected, and recognized. The tradition of volunteer firefighting dates back to colonial times, yet remains vital to thousands of communities throughout the country who rely exclusively upon volunteer fire departments for fire protection and emergency medical services. The problem is the Affordable Care Act is a complicated law, and sometimes, the IRS has treated volunteers as full-time workers for other purposes. This confusion in the law has created uncertainty for local communities and their firefighters and could jeopardize their ability to respond to emergencies. No one wants to put local governments and nonprofits at a risk of huge cost increases that could result if volunteers were considered employees under the Affordable Care Act. The White House does not want that, and neither does Congress. This bill is critical to permanently protecting the 780,000 volunteer firefighters and emergency responders and all other volunteers at our Nation's nonprofits and tribal governments.…”