Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Senate Passage Of The Bipartisan Fire Grants And Safety Act

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor to commend the successful passage of the bipartisan Fire Grants and Safety Act. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks:

First let me thank Senator Peters, Senator Whitehouse, and so many others for their great work on this.

Today the Senate does a great thing for our firefighters in New York and across America: we are passing the bipartisan Fire Grants and Safety Act.

The Fire Grants and Safety Act reauthorizes several expiring funding programs that help firefighters with the basics, from staffing to equipment to training and more. I was very proud to help create these programs a long time ago with Senator Chris Dodd, but they would have expired in a few months had we not acted today. Today’s bill keeps our firefighters whole.

This helps two kinds of firefighters: it helps our paid firefighters in larger cities, by giving the abilities of those communities to hire more firefighters. But it also particularly helps our volunteer firefighters. These are people who volunteer, who rush to danger in suburban and rural communities. They’re particularly strong on Long Island, which I represent. And yet, they can’t afford—and their own communities can’t afford—the equipment that is so desperately needed. They’re rushing to danger, risking their lives, they ought to have the best equipment. And these grants allow that to happen. And it’s so important to our volunteer firefighters, in New York, particularly on Long Island. And then for our paid departments in New York City and Albany and Buffalo, and all across New York state, the ability to get more firefighters to help them so they’re not overstretched. And helping communities pay for them is so important. 

I am glad today’s bill also includes the ADVANCE Act, which secures America’s leadership in the next generation of clean, safe, and affordable nuclear energy. Chairman Carper, Ranking Member Capito, and Sheldon Whitehouse, the sponsor of the legislation, have done a great job, and it’s going to support job growth, clean energy, and American leadership, while preserving the NRC’s fundamental mission of safety. So this is a great bill, I’m sorry it took so long. The House dithered after we passed it, but now our firefighters, both paid and volunteer, can breathe a sigh of relief—this is going to happen very very soon, go to the White House, be signed into law.

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