HR 7077 Passed in House – Fire Investigations

Yesterday, the House began consideration of HR 7077, the Empowering the U.S. Fire Administration Act, under the House suspension of the rules process. After limited debate, a vote was demanded and subsequently postponed until today. This afternoon, the vote on the bill was held and the bill was approved by a significantly bipartisan vote of 379 to 37.

During yesterday’s debate, there was no one that spoke in opposition to the bill. In addition to the typical praise for the leadership of the House Homeland Security Committee for their bipartisan work on the bill, there were four letters in support of the bill read into the record. Those letters were from:

• Fire Department of New York City,

• International Association of Fire Chiefs,

• National Association of State Fire Marshals, and

• The International Association of Fire Fighters.

The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration. This bill will not be considered under regular order. There is a chance that it could proceed under the unanimous consent process, but it is more likely to be added to another bill as an amendment. Then again, it could suffer the same fate that so many bills fall to when they are presented to the ‘other’ house of Congress. Without an influential sponsor to move them forward they simply gather legislative dust on the desk of the Clerk.