Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Ahead Of Passage Of The Fire Grants And Safety Act

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor ahead of Senate passage of the bipartisan Fire Grants and Safety Act. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Later today, the Senate will pass a much-needed lifeline for our firefighters, the Fire Grants and Safety Act. I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their good work on this overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation.

Passing Fire Grants and Safety Act will extend two important federal grant programs that support our paid and volunteer firefighters—SAFER and AFG.

As we approach the fire season, extending SAFER and AFG is crucial to ensuring that firefighters have life-saving equipment and personnel necessary to do their jobs. And this is particularly true in smaller, more rural, more suburban areas where volunteer firefighters staff the firehouses, but the equipment is hard to purchase for smaller and less wealthy communities.

Our firefighters are brave, they risk their lives for us, they run towards danger, not away from it. They work tirelessly, around the clock, often in dangerous and unpredictable conditions, putting their lives on the line to keep us safe. Firefighters have had our back, and passing the Fire Grants and Safety Act today will show we have their backs too. And I was proud, in my early days in the Senate, to work with Senator Dodd to pass this legislation.

So again, I thank my colleagues. This has been an example, again, of just like we did a few weeks back on the AUMF, of how the Senate should work; bipartisan! We worked with our Republican colleagues and the ranking member of the relevant committees to allow Republican amendments. And in turn, our Republican colleagues are supporting us moving forward on this important legislation. It’s a good thing and I hope this model continues. As Leader, that’s one of the things I am trying to do.

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