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Federal firefighters face steep pay cuts over the next month as a 2021 salary increase expires Sept. 30 and lawmakers from both parties scramble to prevent a mass exodus from the rank-and-file.
The Forest Service has roughly $30 million left in the pot of money Congress approved in the bipartisan infrastructure law (Public Law 117-58) almost two years ago to boost pay for thousands of wildland firefighters, Marissa Perry, deputy communications director for the Agriculture Department, said. That amount will stretch about five more weeks, including two more pay periods, she said.
The Forest Service, whose parent agency is Agriculture, employs the bulk of the federal firefighting workforce.
“Without a permanent pay fix that creates certainty for our federal firefighters at both the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior, we will continue to lose these employees to other, higher paying jobs which leave communities, wildlife and public safety in jeopardy,” Perry said.
Republicans, Democrats, union leaders, and government officials have been sounding the alarm for months about the need to extend the temporary pay fix for federal fighters, whose salaries for years have lagged behind firefighters in other sectors. Bipartisan measures to improve compensation and recruitment are pending in Congress.
The compensation crunch comes...
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