U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal announced that his bipartisan bill to improve disability and retirement benefits for federal firefighters is included in the final version of this year’s defense policy bill.
He said that puts the benefits bill on the path to becoming law by the end of this month.
The Federal Firefighters Fairness Act, which had already passed the House earlier this year on its own and is part of the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, ensures federal firefighters receive the same access to job-related disability and retirement benefits as state, county and municipal firefighters.
The House was scheduled to vote on the National Defense Authorization Act later on Wednesday. That vote had not yet taken place when the News-Press went to press.
Democrats, who control the majority in the House until the start of the new term, expect to pass the defense bill and send it to the Senate.