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