48 past the hour. as wildfire seasons grow longer and more intense, congress is trying to ease the immense pressure on the federal firefighters to help battle these blazes. democratic congress members, joe neguse of california and katie porter of california, along with wyoming republican congresswoman liz cheney introduced a bill to raise the pay for firefighters employed by the federal agencies to at least $20 an hour. to improve others like health care, paid leave, and retirement. some of those firefighters are getting paid as little as $13.45 an hour. with me now, congresswoman joe neguse, one of the lead sponsors of the bill, the member of the house natural resources committee. congressman, it s great to see you. good to see you, jose. thank you. tell us about what this bill would do to help federal firefighters? well, as you just recounted,
are responsible for combating all major wildfires in the united states, but shockingly, most are paid an hourly wage of $13.45. that s because wildland firefighters are classified as, quote, foresty technicians by the federal government. there s no classification that takes into account the dangerous work that these men and women to. a bipartisan group of house members want to change that. congressman joe neguse of colorado, congresswoman katie porter of california, and congresswoman liz cheney of wyoming introduced legislation. the bill would raise their hourly pay to at least $20 an hour to run into a forest to tackle a fire. and their salaries to at least $20,000 a year. it would guarantee these firefighters receive health care, including mental health support. it would improve paid leave and retirement benefits and secure funding for housing and tuition assistance. the bill is called the tim hart wildland firefighter
an hourly wage of $13.45. that s because wild land firefighters are classified as quote, forestry technicians by the federal government. there s no classification takes into the account the dangerous work that these men and women do, bipartisan group of house members want to change it. congresswoman joe jordan a goose of colorado, and congresswoman les cheney of wyoming, and congresswoman katie porter of california, to improve the pay and benefits of federal firefighters, the bill would raise their hourly pay, to these $20 an hour. $20 an hour to tactical of fire, and their salaries to at least $28,000 a year. it would guarantee these firefighters receive health care, including mental health support, it improve paid leave and retirement benefits, and secure funding for housing intuition assistance. the bill is called the tim heart wild land firefighter classification and paid parity act. its name for a smoke jumper from wyoming who died earlier