The that averted a government shutdown also temporary raises for federal wildland firefighters 鈥� for now.
Last weekend鈥檚 drama didn鈥檛 resolve the pay cliff, which could bring pay cuts as large as $20,000 for thousands of firefighters. It simply pushed it to mid-November.
Advocacy groups are going to use the breathing room to push for a permanent fix, like the .
鈥淚t's introduced in both the House and the Senate, has broad bipartisan support, and in the short order of things, that's the first piece of legislation that [we] realistically feels should be passed,鈥� said Jonathon Golden, who does government affairs work with Grassroots Wildland Firefighters.
But Golden is 鈥渟lightly pessimistic鈥� about the bill鈥檚 prospects, in part because House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted in a rebellion led by some fellow Republicans. Golden said that as a Californian, McCarthy had a closer relationship with wildfire than some possible .
Golden, a former firefighter, says his wildland colleagues are accustomed to tough conditions.
鈥淎nd this is what Congress is presenting us with right now, a very hard, arduous and unfavorable condition,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut we're not deterred. We're not dissuaded.鈥�
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