Federal wildland firefighters were on the frontlines of some of the harshest wildfires to hit the U.S. and Canada this summer. But as Congress is inching towards its Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government, those firefighters stand to lose half their salaries.
And whether or not the government makes a deal, rent is due Oct. 1.
That's because last year, the bipartisan infrastructure law provided a temporary pay bump to these federal first responders of $20,000 or 50%, whichever was less. The money is estimated by officials to last about two years and was retroactive to October 2021.
"We're going to finish this season out, but there's going to be a lot of people who don't come back," predicted Rachel Granberg, a wildland firefighter in Washington State. "Even with that infrastructure money, people are still leaving and it's only going to get worse once that money runs out."
But the money was always expected to run out, and federal officials relied on Congress to draft and pass into law a permanent pay fix that would increase the base pay of these firefighters. While there is one bipartisan effort in the Senate, Republicans in the House have not been able to coalesce around a solution.
"All of the fixes that have been proposed don't match the amount of money that we get thanks to the infrastructure bill," Granberg said. "So even if something does pass, we're still going to see a pay decrease,...
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