US wildland firefighter pay threatened by Republican feud in Congress
By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — U.S. federal wildland firefighters are facing a huge potential pay cut this autumn that lawmakers in Washington warn could cause thousands to walk off the job, due to a feud among Republicans in Congress over federal spending.
That could mean dire consequences for 16 U.S. states, mostly in the West and Southwest, where about 16,600 firefighters were battling more than 90 large fires across nearly 630,000 acres as of Tuesday, National Interagency Fire Center data show.
The standoff between lawmakers continues as the Hawaiian island of Maui struggles to recover from a massive blaze that killed at least 115 people and Canada's British Columbia province is also being ravaged by fire.
«We're going to have these people out fighting wildfires for us in this country. And their pay could be cut by 50%,» said Representative Mike Simpson, an Idaho Republican who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies.
«You're going to have… wildfire fighters out here that — hell, I don't know — they might walk off the job with somebody who's going to cut their pay 50%,» he told Reuters.
The federal government employs an estimated 18,700 wildland firefighters. Republicans and Democrats in Congress agree that failure to protect their pay could lead to a mass exodus at a time when climate change is fueling more severe wildfires over longer seasons.
At issue is a $60 million supplemental funding request from Democratic President Joe Biden, which would protect federal wildland firefighter pay through December, if Congress can avoid a government shutdown when current funding expires on Sept 30.
'HOSTAGE TO CONGRESSIONAL INFIGHTING'
Biden raised wildland firefighter
Read more on investing.com
