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Letter to the Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Hon. Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader - Pascrell Leads 110 Colleagues Demanding Support for First Responders

Letter

By: Salud Carbajal, Eleanor Norton, Mike Bost, Jamie Raskin, Chris Pappas, Peter DeFazio, Vicente Gonzalez, Mike Thompson, Anna Eshoo, Linda Sánchez, Joe Neguse, Jahana Hayes, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, David Scott, Chuy Garcia, Susan Brooks, Dutch Ruppersberger, Ilhan Omar, Tom Malinowski, Jackie Speier, Alan Lowenthal, Bobby Rush, Steny Hoyer, Rashida Tlaib, Tim Ryan, Al Green, Ruben Gallego, Jerry McNerney, Brad Sherman, Harley Rouda, John Larson, Alcee Hastings, Sr., Sanford Bishop, Jr., Cindy Axne, Danny Davis, Ayanna Pressley, Haley Stevens, Annie Kuster, Don Payne, Jr., Bill Pascrell, Jr., Gil Cisneros, Abby Finkenauer, Joe Kennedy III, Debbie Dingell, Pete King, Mike Doyle, Jr., Gwen Moore, Ami Bera, Tony Cárdenas, Mark Takano, Ed Perlmutter, Darren Soto, Donna Shalala, Dave Loebsack, Sean Casten, Cedric Richmond, David Trone, Emanuel Cleaver II, Albio Sires, Xochitl Torres Small, Thomas Suozzi, Yvette Clarke, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Brian Higgins, Chrissy Houlahan, Donald McEachin, Rick Larsen, Julia Brownley, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Cheri Bustos, Andy Levin, Andy Kim, Brian Fitzpatrick, Gerry Connolly, Jared Huffman, Barbara Lee, Grace Napolitano, Diana DeGette, Joe Courtney, Ted Deutch, Hank Johnson, Jr., Dan Lipinski, Bill Foster, Stephen Lynch, Angie Craig, Joshua Gottheimer, Mikie Sherrill, Susie Lee, Gregory Meeks, Max Rose, Paul Tonko, Brendan Boyle, Ben McAdams, Peter Welch, Adam Smith, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Lee Zeldin, Hakeem Jeffries, Carolyn Maloney, Anthony Brindisi, Madeleine Dean, Elaine Luria, Suzan DelBene, Mark Pocan, Ben Luján, Jr., Kathleen Rice, Jerry Nadler, José Serrano, Marcia Fudge, Eddie Johnson, Jennifer Wexton, Pramila Jayapal
Date: March 20, 2020
Location: Paterson, NJ
Issues: National Security Health and Health Care

Dear Speaker Pelosi and Leader McCarthy:


As Congress considers further legislation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we urge you to include support for our nation's first responders, especially fire and emergency medical services (EMS), who are serving on the frontlines of this outbreak. First responders are routinely in physical contact with potentially infected persons as pre-hospital health care providers. During this public health emergency, the continued work and support of our first responders is vital.


We understand firefighters and paramedics across the country are in short supply of the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) to guard against disease exposure.[1] First responders access to PPE, particularly N95 respirators, helps limit spread of the disease and ensures our nation's first responders remain healthy so they can continue to serve our communities. We urge you to bolster resources for fire and EMS departments so they can access PPE by increasing funding for emergency Assistance to Firefighter (AFG) grants and prioritizing delivery of these resources through the national strategic stockpile.


Fire and EMS personnel work in one of the highest risk occupations for COVID-19 exposure. However, first responders have faced severe testing shortages.[2] A dearth of testing has led many first responders to self-isolate or quarantine. This has left departments with staffing gaps that must be backfilled, often with increased use of overtime. Fire and EMS departments must be fully equipped to respond emergencies. We urge you increase funding for emergency Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grants and direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to expeditiously disperse federal funds to departments in need. To ensure grant recipients can use SAFER grants for costs related current employee needs and overtime, we urge including language mandating the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to grant waivers to SAFER recipients for the ability to use funds for overtime, backfill needs, and employee retention in addition to hiring.


During a time of crisis, it is necessary communities can continue to rely on local first responders for protection and emergency response. Congress must ensure fire and EMS departments have access to PPE, testing, and receive much-needed staffing support so that our nation's first responders can operate at full capacity as we face the COVID-19 pandemic.


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