MIL USHOR-2b Engine

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Jason Crow (CO-06)

WASHINGTON — Congressman Jason Crow (D-CO-06), member of the House Armed Services Committee, issued the following statement after voting against a highly partisan version of the National Defense Authorization Act.

In a statement, Congressman Crow said: 

“As a veteran who has dedicated my life to serving our country, I will not vote for a bill that undermines the safety and security of our servicemembers.

“We should not be ripping health care from our troops, putting donors in charge of our national security, and deploying active duty troops in U.S. cities. 

“These are not normal times. I will not be part of this administration’s efforts that trash our troops and make us less safe.”

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Joe Neguse (D-Co 2)

Watch the full video HERE. 

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Joe Neguse (D-Co 2)

Pictured Above: Rep. Neguse, Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Federal Lands, questions Chief Schultz during today’s hearing. 

Washington, D.C. — During yesterday’s hearing in the House Subcommittee on Federal Lands titled “The State of Our Nation’s Federal Forests,” in response to questioning from Ranking Member Joe Neguse of Colorado, Chief of the Forest Service Tom Schultz confirmed that, going forward, wildland firefighters will be provided N95 masks. This kind of protective equipment has not previously been approved for use, despite an increasing number of firefighters getting sick from smoke exposure while in the line of duty. 

CHIEF SCHULTZ: So, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Neguse, first of all, in the article, Forest Service employees were interviewed for that and their input was not included in the article. So, I would argue that that article was fairly one-sided, just to clear the record on that. In terms of what we do provide firefighters, N95 masks are available, should a firefighter choose to wear that. They’re provided on fires. What we do not provide are respirators, and that’s something that they’re…

NEGUSE: Can I ask about the mask on that front? And I will…just on the N95 mask. So, does the wildland firefighter have to ask for that, or are they, are they now, it’s the policy of the Forest Service that they’re made aware that they have the ability to access those masks if they choose? 

CHIEF SCHULTZ: Mr. Chairman, Mr Neguse, yes, they’re aware that they are available on fires. As part of when we deploy to a fire, the logistics team, they do order that that is available to firefighters. That it’s N95 masks—not respirators—N95 masks.

NEGUSE: And I would say on that point, I thank the Chairman for his indulgence. I think it would be important for the Forest Service, I mean, you’ve done this now during the course of this hearing, but perhaps taking another step to pronounce that very publicly, because that was not, that was, that’s not the understanding I think, based off of what I’ve, we’ve all collectively read. But I hear you, and so I’d look forward. We sent a letter to you, along with many other members, on this subject that just asked a series of questions to try to get some clarity for our wildland firefighters, and so I would hope that we could continue to work with you on that. 

CHIEF SCHULTZ: And Mr Chairman, Mr Neguse we, we got your letter yesterday. So we appreciate that. And we will work toward answering those. But we do. We take it very seriously. Firefighter health. It was mentioned earlier, too. It’s not just physical health in terms of respiration, but also psychological health. So that’s something we are very serious about, that we do have suicides occasionally. So, firefighters’ safety is of critical importance to the agency, and we’re working with our firefighters to make sure that they are protected and have appropriate PPE to keep them safe. 

NEGUSE: Thank you.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Joe Neguse (D-Co 2)

The Colorado lawmakers leading the Joint Chiefs Reauthorization Act also emphasized the need to expand this critical USDA program.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Joe Neguse (D-Co 2)

Since assuming office, Donald Trump has cut the Forest Service’s workforce by 10%; an agency where roughly 75% of the staff are trained in wildland firefighting. These terminations, coupled with an increased number of firefighters getting sick from smoke exposure while fighting wildfires, are straining the agency’s workforce and weakening the nation’s federal disaster response and emergency operations. 

“We are writing to express extreme concern about recent reports of inadequate working conditions for wildland firefighters employed by the United States Forest Service (USFS) and understaffing across the agency. Given the increasing severity and frequency of wildfires across the country, especially in the Western United States, it is critical to ensure that our federal firefighting workforce is sufficiently staffed, trained, fed, and ready to respond to wildfire emergencies,” wrote Congressman Neguse and colleagues.

The questions Neguse and colleagues requested a response to include: 

1. How many federal wildland firefighters are currently employed by USFS?

2. How many employees are currently employed by USFS who are red-card certified?

3. What steps has USFS taken, and plans to take, to ensure there is always adequate food, fuel, and other basic supplies provided for wildland firefighters without any lapse?

4. Going forward, will protective equipment such as N95 masks be free and easily available to USFS firefighters? Will this equipment be part of the cache automatically sent to all large fires moving forward?

5. Has the USFS conferred with or received any guidance from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration regarding the wearing of N95s on firelines and/or holding firelines?

6. What steps is USFS taking to support wildland firefighters in response to the health risks associated with wildland fire response?

“This has been a brutal fire season. Prolonged drought is fueling fierce wildfires that endanger the health and safety of federal wildland firefighters,” said Randy Erwin, National President, National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM). “Making matters worse, the Trump Administration chose to eliminate seasoned firefighters through DOGE and other misguided schemes—compounding long-standing recruitment and retention challenges tied to low pay and poor working conditions. Unsurprisingly, the Forest Service and USDA have remained tight-lipped about the crisis and any plan to address it.”

It was co-signed by Representatives Huffman, Brownley, Carbajal, Costa, Dexter, Dingell, Elfreth, Gray, Harder, Hoyle, Lee, Leger Fernández, Min, S. Peters, Salinas, Schrier, M.D., and Whitesides. 

September 4, 2025

Dear Chief Schultz,

We are writing to express extreme concern about recent reports of inadequate working conditions for wildland firefighters employed by the United States Forest Service (USFS) and understaffing across the agency. Given the increasing severity and frequency of wildfires across the country, especially in the Western United States, it is critical to ensure that our federal firefighting workforce is sufficiently staffed, trained, fed, and ready to respond to wildfire emergencies.

Recent reporting has indicated unsafe working conditions for federal wildland firefighters as they face the toxicity of wildfire smoke without adequate protective equipment–exposing these brave men and women to extreme health risks. The toxic wildfire smoke that wildland firefighters are exposed to has been linked to countless dangerous health conditions, including cancers, and yet your agency has not provided protective equipment to firefighters, even on a voluntary basis. The USFS’ own research has outlined the dangers of wildfire smoke and called for additional protective equipment, but the agency has not done so.

These firefighters have also been asked to take on additional responsibilities outside the usual scope of their duties in response to diminished staff capacity at USFS. Firefighters have reportedly been asked to cover ranger station positions, mow lawns, and clean toilets. Many employees who support wildland fire operations have been subject to layoffs and subsequent re-hiring which places additional strain on remaining employees, including firefighters. 

Additional reports outline how firefighters battling active wildfires in the Pacific Northwest also “went hungry for several days, ran short of medical supplies, and had to scrounge for chainsaw fuel” because of staff vacancies in key positions who support the frontline firefighters. This is completely unacceptable and shameful. The brave men and women who are putting their lives on the line to battle wildfires deserve much more, and at the very least, they should be able to count on the USFS to provide reliable food and supplies.

Many of the employees who have left the USFS since the start of the year have also held Incident Qualification Cards, or red cards, which are issued to individuals who successfully complete the required training, experience, and physical fitness test by firefighting agencies. These individuals provide invaluable support during fire emergencies and are often called in by agency leadership to fill gaps in personnel during emergency scenarios, despite their regular, full-time jobs outside of incident response within the agency. You have acknowledged the importance of these red-card holding employees, requesting that any employees who left the agency this year but hold a red card come back to work for the summer months. 

In addition, despite statements from the USFS and U.S. Department of Agriculture that your agencies have hired 96-99% of your firefighters for the season, reports also indicate that there are 4,500 vacant firefighting positions at USFS, or 27% of the workforce. The American public and fire managers deserve to know the truth about the number of employees who are employed at the agency, and the extent that the workforce is understaffed. 

In response to these concerning reports about the working conditions and staffing of your agency, we request urgent answers to the following questions: 

7. How many federal wildland firefighters are currently employed by USFS?

8. How many employees are currently employed by USFS who are red-card certified?

9. What steps has USFS taken, and plans to take, to ensure there is always adequate food, fuel, and other basic supplies provided for wildland firefighters without any lapse?

10. Going forward, will protective equipment such as N95 masks be free and easily available to USFS firefighters? Will this equipment be part of the cache automatically sent to all large fires moving forward?

11. Has the USFS conferred with or received any guidance from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration regarding the wearing of N95s on firelines and/or holding firelines?

12. What steps is USFS taking to support wildland firefighters in response to the health risks associated with wildland fire response?

Thank you for your ongoing attention to our national wildfire preparedness and response capacity. We look forward to your response.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Joe Neguse (D-Co 2)

Lafayette, CO — This Sunday, September 7th, 2025, Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse will host a town hall in Eagle County. Neguse will be joined by local leaders, provide an update on his work for the people of Colorado’s 2nd District, and take live questions from audience members.

Eagle County Town Hall

When: Sunday, September 7, 1:30 p.m. MT (Doors open at 1:00pm MT)

Where: Vail, Colorado 

RSVP for this community gathering HERE.

Media availability will be provided. Please email Grace.Martinez@mail.house.gov for further details. 

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (IL-14)

Underwood legislation to extend popular tax credits is a key piece of the legislation and will protect health coverage savings and care for millions of American families 

WASHINGTON — On the 60^th Anniversary of Medicaid and Medicare, House Democrats introduced the Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act, sweeping legislation that would repeal the devastating cuts to working families’ health care implemented in Donald Trump’s Big Ugly Bill.

Rep. Lauren Underwood’s Health Care Affordability Act is a critical piece of the legislation, and would extend popular tax credits for people who get their health care through the Affordable Care Act, making them more generous and available to more Americans.

“As a direct result of Donald Trump’s Big Ugly Bill, millions of American families will soon be getting notices that the cost of their health coverage for next year will be skyrocketing,” said Rep. Underwood. “Many of those families will be forced to go without coverage, and the consequences will be devastating. The Big Ugly Law is the largest cut to health care in American history, and we are out of time. Republicans must act now to pass our legislation, correct this disaster, and protect care for working families.”

The cost savings from the Health Care Affordability Act have led to a record-breaking and historic expansion of health care coverage.

More than 24 million people signed up for health care through the Affordable Care Act this year, including 3.2 million new enrollees. Four in five Americans have found health coverage for $10 or less per month and families of four with Marketplace plans are saving an average of $2,400 on their annual health care premiums. The tax credits are set to expire on December 31, 2025.

But Republicans have refused to extend these savings, and the Congressional Budget Office estimates that 4.2 million Americans will lose their coverage as a direct result of the associated cost increases. Americans can expect to see notifications from their coverage providers informing them about increased costs over the coming weeks. 

The Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act restores critical funding to Medicaid that was cut in the Big Ugly Bill and extends the popular tax credits from Underwood’s Health Care Affordability Act. Full text of the legislation can be found here.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (IL-14)

WASHINGTON — Today, Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (IL-14) delivered the following remarks at the House Appropriations Committee markup of the fiscal year 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations funding bill: 

“I rise in strong opposition to the Fiscal Year 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill that we are considering today.  

This bill cuts a broad range of proven programs that train doctors and nurses, expand access to high-quality care, develop groundbreaking treatments and tools, prevent the spread of disease, address the overdose crisis, and keep our constituents healthy and safe.  

And that’s just in HHS. Outside that agency, this bill also guts education job training, defunds worker protection and labor law enforcement, eliminates critical programs that support women in the workforce, and continues the Republican assault on reproductive rights.  

The Republican majority claims these cuts are necessary for “fiscal responsibility,” yet they managed to find $100 MILLION for a new slush fund to, allegedly, “Make America Healthy Again.”  

Mr. Chairman, if we actually want to make America healthy, why would we defund programs the data show are working? And why would we hand over OUR power of the purse to some slush fund run by the wildly unqualified HHS Secretary?  

This committee should be demanding Mr. Kennedy’s resignation, not bankrolling his reign of terror.   

Instead of solving our maternal health crisis, or fulfilling Donald Trump’s broken promise of IVF for all, Mr. Kennedy’s primary goal seems to be taking American health care backwards.  

He spews dangerous falsehoods about vaccines, damaging public trust in one of the most safe and effective public health tools in history.   

He is playing a leading role in the deadly resurgence of preventable diseases that have already killed children on his watch. 

In fact, while Mr. Kennedy’s policies hurt us all, kids are even more at risk: he’s cut CDC’s lead poisoning team, their drowning prevention team, experts who study gun violence in schools, and so much more.   

He is using taxpayer funding to promote junk science and allow fraudsters to profit off the flaws in our health care system instead of fixing them.   

He’s hiding information: under his direction, the CDC has suppressed expert reports that did not align with Mr. Kennedy’s ideology, including a report finding—unsurprisingly—that measles risk is high near areas with low vaccination rates. 

He has stripped much-needed resources away from state and local public heath authorities and presided over the largest cut to health care in our nation’s history in the Big Ugly Bill.  

His anti-science, conspiratorial rhetoric has even fueled violent extremism that endangers his own employees, as we saw in last month’s terrifying shooting at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta.  

One of the CDC experts who recently resigned in protest of Mr. Kennedy’s dangerous policies—who served as Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases—wrote in his resignation letter that Mr. Kennedy’s “desire to please a political base will result in death and disability for vulnerable children and adults.” 

As a public health nurse myself, I know this warning is true. Mr. Kennedy is unfit to serve. His leadership has been a disgrace and he needs to resign.   

But unfortunately, the Trump Administration’s attacks on science don’t end with Mr. Kennedy.   

The President’s Budget Request for FY26 also took a hatchet to the National Institutes of Health, proposing to consolidate the 27 institutes and centers that make up the NIH into just 8.  

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which supports some of the most promising work to end America’s maternal health crisis, is just one of the many institutes that would be undermined by this misguided reorganization.  

The President’s plan would also completely eliminate the National Institutes for Nursing Research and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, firing the scientists and other staff who have dedicated their lives to ensuring every single American gets the care they deserve.  

I am grateful that this committee has rejected this proposed reorganization of NIH, but unfortunately the bill does include a funding cut that will delay and derail the cutting-edge work being done by our nation’s top medical researchers.  

If we want to make Americans healthy, this bill makes no sense. I cannot support it, and I urge my colleagues to join me in voting no.” 

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Robert Aderholt (AL-04)

Washington, DC — Today, H.R. 3838 – Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, passed through the House of Representatives. Included in this legislation is Rep. Aderholt’s DUAL (Defense United Access to Learning) Act and a proposal to support America’s domestic textile industry.

The FY26 NDAA boosts advanced capabilities and equipment delivery, ensuring our warfighters receive critical equipment in months rather than years.

“I would like to thank fellow Alabamian, House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers, for spearheading legislation that secures our borders, streamlines procurement and delivery of military equipment, and implements President Trump’s peace through strength agenda,” said Congressman Aderholt.

This past June, Rep. Aderholt introduced the DUAL Act, a bill that allows the Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) to partner with accredited colleges and universities to offer dual enrollment programs for high school students in military families, similar to what is already available to public school students in most states.

The DUAL Act opens the door for thousands of students living on military bases, both in the U.S. and overseas, to earn college credit while completing high school. Importantly, the bill requires no new funding; it simply authorizes DODEA to use existing Department of Defense funds for this purpose. It is designed to enhance college readiness, remove financial barriers, and strengthen the academic competitiveness of Department of Defense dependents – finally putting them on an equal footing with their civilian counterparts.

“House passage of the FY26 NDAA is a critical step towards codifying the DUAL Act, and in turn, removes an unnecessary barrier and allows DODEA to invest in the future of its students, without increasing federal spending,” said Congressman Aderholt. “Military families make tremendous sacrifices for our country, and their children deserve the same educational opportunities that are available to other students nationwide.”

“It’s a commonsense fix that will make a meaningful difference in the lives of thousands of military families,” Aderholt added.

In addition, Congressman Aderholt’s Amendment #0668 is designed the U.S. domestic textile industry and the Department of Defense’s reported shortfalls. This initiative is informed by the long history of Alabama’s textile industry, specifically in Alabama’s 4^th Congressional District where local manufacturers have supplied materials that support our nation’s defense and commercial sectors for generations. 

This amendment takes a simple but important step by directing the Department of Defense to look more closely at domestic textile procurement for the American textile industry to play a larger role in meeting our defense needs here at home. It’s a common-sense measure that ultimately would strengthen our national security and support American jobs.

“At a time when national security demands are growing, it is necessary to examine how we can once again rely on our own manufacturers for critical defense-related textile production,” said Congressman Aderholt.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Robert Aderholt (AL-04)

Washington, D.C. — Congressman Robert Aderholt (AL-04) today released the following statement regarding the Department of the Interior’s decision to move forward with coal lease sales in Alabama, Utah, and Montana:

“Coal has long played an important role in fueling our economy and providing good-paying jobs, especially here in Alabama. The announcement that the Department of the Interior will move forward with competitive coal lease sales in Tuscaloosa County is welcome news for our state’s workers and for America’s energy future.

“The two lease areas being offered cover about 14,000 acres and contain an estimated 53 million tons of metallurgical coal, which is vital for steelmaking and has been recognized as a critical material under the Energy Act of 2020. These resources will help ensure America maintains its industrial strength, while also creating opportunities for families and communities across West Alabama.

“I am encouraged by this continued focus on American energy independence and resource security. By responsibly developing our domestic energy and mineral resources, we can support local economies, reduce reliance on foreign supply chains, and strengthen our national security.”

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will hold the sealed-bid sale for the Alabama tracts on September 30, 2025 at the BLM Eastern States Office in Falls Church, Virginia.

In addition to Alabama, the Department of the Interior also announced lease sales in Emery County, Utah and Big Horn County, Montana.