Press Releases

Today, Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC) spoke on the House Floor in opposition to H.R. 2499, the Federal Firefighters Fairness Act of 2022, which throws out important accountability measures for the federal workers’ compensation program.

Below are key excerpts from Republican Leader Foxx’s remarks:

“Federal firefighters deserve our utmost respect and admiration for risking their lives every day. Republicans strongly support assisting federal firefighters and ensuring they have access to medical benefits under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) program, but we are against removing critical oversight measures.

“H.R. 2499, the Federal Firefighters Fairness Act, creates a presumption that federal firefighters diagnosed with certain types of heart disease, lung disease, or cancer contracted the disease at work.

“FECA has never included such a presumption.
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“This bill throws out crucial program integrity measures, weakening the federal workers’ compensation program. Critical oversight measures are important to protect taxpayers against non-meritorious claims and mismanagement.
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“Without a process to determine whether the disability or illness is work-related, there is nothing to prevent coverage of nonoccupational medical costs from being shifted from the private insurance market to the federal government.

 “H.R. 2499 also plays favorites among federal workers by picking and choosing which workers automatically receive federal workers’ compensation.
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“We should continue to allow cases to be judged by supporting evidence, not a predetermined list of illnesses. Yet, the Democrats’ bill gives blanket authority to the Secretary to determine without oversight whether a disease poses a significant risk to firefighters.
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“Further, OWCP recently announced changes to improve the claims process for federal firefighters to ensure their needs are met through a Special Claims Unit.

 “An amendment authored by Rep. Fred Keller proposes making this streamlined claims process permanent. Unfortunately, I’m not optimistic that Democrats will support this commonsense amendment.

 “Additionally, H.R. 2499 makes changes to FECA without the benefit of data from the National Firefighter Registry.… The registry begins enrollment this year, and Congress should rely on this important data to ensure legislation is following the science and addressing firefighters’ needs.”

Watch the full remarks here.

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