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Glenn Grothman Questions Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer About Protecting Volunteer Firefighters
Forbes Breaking News
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6/6/2025
During a House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) questioned Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer about volunteer firefighters.
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00:00
And I recognize the gentleman from Wisconsin.
00:04
Thank you for coming on over here to our humble hearing room.
00:07
Hi, Congressman Grothman. I miss you.
00:13
Let's talk about 14C. Are you familiar with 14C?
00:17
I am.
00:18
That's the provision regarding giving people with special needs the ability to work for less than minimum wage.
00:25
Yes.
00:25
Section 14C certificates expand employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.
00:32
And it's always enjoyable, or one of the things I suggest you do if you haven't done it yet,
00:37
is tour a facility where these 14C certificates are in use
00:41
and which people who maybe otherwise would not be able to find a job at all
00:45
are given all the benefits of being able to work themselves.
00:51
The Democrats and the Biden administration didn't like 14C.
00:55
They felt it was taking advantage of somebody to allow them to work for five bucks an hour.
01:03
I personally am a big fan of 14C because I've toured so many different facilities
01:09
in which these disabled folks are able to develop a little bit of independence,
01:18
work on their own, the socialization with other people.
01:21
The Biden administration tried to introduce a requirement that would make it very, very difficult to use 14C.
01:33
Have you yet developed a view of 14C, and do you plan on withdrawing the Biden administration rule?
01:40
Well, Congressman, as you know, I cannot comment.
01:44
It's an act of rulemaking now.
01:47
And, you know, developing that process is going to be working with Congress.
01:52
And absent of any congressional action, as you know,
01:55
many states have taken on their own determination of whether they want to continue with 14C or not.
02:00
This is an important issue to so many members of Congress.
02:02
It's really not a partisan issue.
02:04
And I've heard from so many how it's important to them on one end and not on the other.
02:08
But I look to the states, respectively, to determine if that's what they want.
02:12
But because Department of Labor is an act of rulemaking on this,
02:14
I cannot comment specifically on where we are with that.
02:18
I'll ask you this.
02:19
Have you personally toured any of these facilities?
02:22
I have not, Congressman.
02:23
I can't ask you to come to Wisconsin because you have to come to every state.
02:28
But would you be like it someday if we set up a tour and see a few of them
02:33
so you see the type of people whose lives would be affected
02:36
and in some cases, I would argue, almost ruined?
02:39
Yes, I think it would be important to understand Wisconsin it is.
02:47
We'll set something up, give you three or four of these things.
02:50
Next thing is kind of, hopefully it's not too obscure.
02:55
There are more than, in Wisconsin, we have more than 600 volunteer fire departments.
02:59
I bet it's higher than that.
03:01
That's what it says here.
03:02
In February, OSHA issued a proposed rule with a new safety and health standard
03:07
for emergency response replacing the existing fire brigade standards.
03:13
One of the goals, I think, by the way, of the firemen's union
03:18
is to get rid of volunteer fire departments, which are such a huge part of America.
03:24
Actually, when I first got involved in politics, I think in my assembly district,
03:29
I had like eight volunteer fire departments,
03:31
and nobody had a full-time fire employee.
03:38
Given concerns about feasibility and cost, and I would say more than that,
03:43
just all the wonderful volunteer firemen,
03:46
will the department commit to revisiting or revising the proposed OSHA rule
03:52
to ensure life-saving emergency services are not undermined by federal overreach?
04:01
And really just basically standing up to the firemen's union
04:04
and saying, we don't mind it if local communities want to have volunteer departments.
04:11
Well, I can't speculate on what the firemen's union thinks about the volunteer firefighters.
04:17
But what I will say is, again, while this is in rulemaking,
04:21
I committed when I took on this job that I would look at and do an analysis
04:25
on all rulemaking and regulation.
04:27
And as we move through that process,
04:29
I'll be able to update you and your office and this committee,
04:32
and I can follow up with that.
04:35
But we do want our nation's first responders safe,
04:38
and that will include all of those first responders.
04:42
I don't even know.
04:42
In your old congressional districts, do you have a lot of volunteer firemen?
04:46
We do have volunteer fire departments, really, throughout the entire country, but yes.
04:52
Okay, super.
04:53
I will say this.
04:59
President Trump signed Executive Order 14173,
05:03
which rescinded Executive Order 11246.
05:07
That was an order from 1965, a horrible, horrible order.
05:13
It established employment.
05:14
Am I over here?
05:16
Way over.
05:17
You're going over.
05:18
I'm committed to working with your office and can answer those.
05:23
Okay, thank you much.
05:24
Yep.
05:26
All right.
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