When you call 911, you’re likely experiencing one of the worst days of your life. In that moment, you expect a response, right? But a new regulation proposed by President Biden’s Department of Labor threatens to change all of that.

The new mandate requires volunteer fire departments to implement new training requirements and require additional health screenings with no federal funding to support it. The result? Fire departments in Upstate New York will cease to exist. Alarmist? Not at all.

Unlike New York City and other big cities, communities in upstate New York fully rely on volunteers. Herein lies the issue: As costs have risen, recruitment has gone down, and budgets have tightened.                                  

Fire departments in upstate New York, especially those in rural communities, are already hanging by a thread. This is why the Biden administration’s proposal is so damaging; it’s an unfunded mandate that our local fire departments can’t absorb.

I served as a volunteer firefighter and remain a member of my local department. I know these men and women make monumental sacrifices. We want them to be as safe as possible, which is why I’ve prioritized directing federal dollars for fire departments to purchase new equipment, facilities and training. We also want firefighters to be able to comfortably live, work and raise a family here in New York. That’s why I’m sponsoring legislation to give them a meaningful deduction on their taxes.

But the Department of Labor threatens to erase the progress we’re making. Washington bureaucrats wrote this proposal without truly considering the voice of volunteer firefighters who respond to life and death calls day in and day out.

There’s a reason Benjamin Franklin went to great lengths to establish the first fire department in 1736 in Philadelphia. Emergencies happen, and when you call for help, you expect a response.

I’m leading this fight because it’s that important. The Biden administration must rework this dangerous mandate and thoroughly consider its impact on the volunteer fire departments that serve and protect upstate New York.

U.S. Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-NY-19)
Washington, D.C.