RELEASE: Gottheimer Announces New Legislation to Stop Reckless Trump Cuts to Firefighter Cancer Research and Health Care

Above: Gottheimer announces new legislation to stop reckless cuts to firefighter cancer research and health care.

ENGLEWOOD, NJ — Today, April 28, 2025, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) joined local leaders and firefighters at the Englewood Fire Department to announce new legislation to fight back against the Trump Administration’s reckless cuts to firefighter cancer research and health care. 

Gottheimer’s announcement follows the Trump Administration shutting down the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer, firing employees who investigate and prevent firefighter deaths, and halting all training at the National Fire Academy.

A recording of the announcement can be found here.

“It makes zero sense that the Trump Administration would turn their backs on first responders and on the families of our fallen heroes — gutting funding for cancer research and support for the World Trade Center Health Program. The Administration is literally admitting that the safety and lives of our first responders are not a priority. Well, they are to me, as I have said since day one,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), a member of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus. “That’s why I am introducing new legislation — the Fight Fires and Fight Cancer Act — to stop the Administration from recklessly slashing programs that support firefighters’ safety, training, and health care. We must always get the backs of those who have ours.”

Between 2002 and 2019, cancer caused 66% of the professional firefighter line-of-duty deaths. Firefighters have a 14% higher risk of dying from cancer than the general public.

Reckless Cuts to Firefighter Cancer Research and Health Care

• The Administration is gutting the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which supports the World Trade Center Health Program.
  • The World Trade Center Health Program provides medical care for more than 137,000 9/11 survivors and first responders, more than double the number the program started helping in 2011.
  • NIOSH also oversees the National Firefighter Cancer Registry, which tracks incidences of cancer among firefighters, to better understand its causes, and to give departments information to better protect our bravest.
• The Administration also announced massive cuts to the U.S Forest Service, firing more than 700 support staff who help take on wildfire blazes like the one in Ocean County. 
• Last month, the Administration also announced that they were ending nearly all free training courses for firefighters across the country at the National Fire Academy.

Gottheimer’s New Action to Get the Backs of our First Responders

• First, Gottheimer is announcing new legislation — the Fight Fires and Fight Cancer Act — to stop the Administration from recklessly slashing programs that support firefighters’ safety, training, and health care.
• Second, ​​Gottheimer is sending a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., demanding that he keep the Cancer Registry portal open and continue their work on firefighter-related cancer research.
  • ​​Gottheimer also joined 113 colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary Kennedy to reinstate the more than 1,500 NIOSH team members across the country who have been terminated, including those who support the World Trade Center Health Program and the Cancer Registry.
  • ​​Gottheimer also joined a bipartisan, bicameral letter to the Trump Administration demanding they reinstate all classes at the National Fire Academy. 
  • Gottheimer also joined an effort with representatives from across the tri-state area demanding that President Trump and Secretary Kennedy explain exactly how all of these cuts will fully impact the World Trade Center Health Program.
• Gottheimer is also fighting to pass his bipartisan FIRE Cancer Act, which would provide federal investments so that all firefighters across America — whether volunteer or professional — can get access to preventative tests, including multi-cancer early detection tests. 

Gottheimer was joined by Senator Gordon Johnson, Englewood Fire Deputy Chief Kyle Hummel,  Professional Firefighters Association of New Jersey President Matthew Caliente, and Englewood firefighters.

Below: Gottheimer announces new legislation to stop reckless cuts to firefighter cancer research and health care.

Gottheimer’s full remarks as prepared for delivery can be found here:

Good morning. It is an honor to join our brave first responders, who literally work around the clock to keep us safe. Before I begin, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the wildfires raging through our great state. According to reports, the Jones Road Wildfire is on pace to become the largest wildfire in our state’s history. As of Sunday, the fire is 65 percent contained and there have been no reported injuries or deaths. 

This is thanks, in no small part, to the incredible skill and dedication of our firefighters and first responders, who are the best in the world.

Every day, whether it’s in a forest, in a warehouse, or a home, these heroes answer the siren at a moment’s notice to protect innocent lives. You never even hesitate to answer the call, putting yourself in harm’s way to protect our families and communities not only from fires, but also floods, terror, natural disasters, and other threats to our homeland. And, we can’t forget the critical work you do on the EMT front.

But let’s be honest, as ready as you are for every challenge, even on a good day, you and your departments are often left fighting for resources to protect our communities. And, it can be tough to protect us without the basic resources to do your job safely and effectively. 

Making things worse, now our brave firefighters are facing a new blaze that many are working around-the-clock to put out: significant cuts from the Trump Administration, who, as part of their chaos, are kneecapping the World Trade Center Health Program and gutting the National Firefighter Cancer Registry, which was created by bipartisan legislation I helped get signed into law to help track incidences of cancer among firefighters, better understand its causes, and give departments information to better protect our bravest. It’s unacceptable. We are here today to sound the alarm and answer the call to get your backs, just as you have had ours.

Everyone knows about the immediate dangers our firefighters face when they run into a burning building. But what’s not talked about nearly enough is the silent killer you come home with after putting out a fire. Between 2002 and 2019, cancer caused 66 percent of the professional firefighter line-of-duty deaths. In fact, firefighters have a 14 percent higher risk of dying from cancer than the general public. 

We’ve seen this with our 9/11 first responders, not only the nearly three thousand that died that day, 746 from New Jersey — but those who are still getting sick and dying from working on the pile. That includes Richard Kubler from Hackensack, Clifford Russell, Jr. from Fairview, and Neal Hileman from Voorhees. That’s why, even 24 years after that tragic day, we must continue to get the backs of 9/11 first responders and their families.

So, it makes zero sense to me that the Trump Administration would turn their backs on first responders and on the families of our fallen heroes.

Last week, the Administration gutted the workforce at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, the agency that supports the World Trade Center Health Program. They provide medical care for more than 137,000  9/11 survivors and first responders, which is now more than double the amount the program started helping in 2011.

NIOSH also oversees the National Firefighter Cancer Registry, which, as I mentioned, helps to track incidences of cancer among firefighters, to better understand its causes, and to give departments information to better protect our bravest.

Right now, under the National Firefighter Cancer Registry page on the CDC’s website, it says, and I quote, “Due to the reduction in force across NIOSH, firefighters can no longer enroll in the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer.” I mean, what a slap in the face to our first responders.

This program passed both chambers of Congress unanimously in 2018, and now the Trump Administration thinks it can just completely dismantle it. What a joke. On top of that, NIOSH investigates whenever firefighters are tragically lost in the line of duty to determine what went wrong and how to avoid similar accidents in the future. 

Yet, somehow, the Administration decided they couldn’t be bothered with investing in ways to mitigate firefighter deaths. No closure for the families of fallen heroes, no concrete steps or recommendations on how to prevent the same fate for anyone in a similar life-or-death situation. It’s unconscionable.

The Administration also announced massive cuts to the U.S Forest Service, which has resulted in firing 700 support staff who help take on blazes like the one in Ocean County. Given the rash of climate change-related forest fires around our country, and more coming, I don’t understand why these cuts make any sense. It just makes our country less safe.

Last month, FEMA even announced that they were ending nearly all free training courses for firefighters across the country at the National Fire Academy. This was part of the Administration’s own, and I quote, “process of evaluating agency programs and spending to ensure alignment with Administration priorities.” They are literally admitting that the safety and lives of our first responders are not a priority of this Administration.

Well, they are to me, and to those standing here today. That’s why I am announcing new action to get the backs of our first responders in the face of these attacks and chaotic cuts.

First, day in and day out, our firefighters respond to life-threatening emergencies. We can’t just slash critical federal support for them. That’s why I am introducing new legislation — the Fight Fires and Fight Cancer Act — to stop the Administration from recklessly slashing programs that support firefighters’ safety, training, and health care. Our first responders always show up for us, there’s no reason to abandon them either.

Second, gutting the National Firefighter Cancer Registry isn’t efficient, it’s chaos plain and simple. I’m sending a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy, demanding that he keep the Cancer Registry portal open, and continue their work on firefighter-related cancer research. Just as I successfully fought to secure these funds through Congress, I’m going to fight to ensure they can’t just be taken away on a whim. 

Finally, fighting back against the Administration won’t be easy, but you know I never back down from a fight. And, I am not alone. I joined 113 of my colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary Kennedy to reinstate the more than 1,500 NIOSH team members across the country who’ve been terminated — including those who support the World Trade Center Health Program and the Cancer Registry.

I also joined a bipartisan, bicameral letter to the Trump Administration demanding they reinstate all classes at the National Fire Academy, and an effort with representatives from across the tri-state area demanding President Trump and Secretary Kennedy explain exactly how all of these cuts will fully impact the World Trade Center Health Program. We’ve already gotten the Administrator of the World Trade Center Health Program rehired, and we won’t stop there.  I’m also sending a similar letter to the Forest Service to stop cuts there.

Finally, as I’ve said at many Jersey fire houses and in the halls of Congress, I want to be very clear: early cancer detection saves lives, and every firefighter across the country should have free access to these lifesaving cancer tests. We know that whether it’s the chemicals that firefighters breathe in when they run into a building, or what’s left on their uniforms, firefighters face a much higher rate of cancer. We’ve seen success in New Jersey in getting early detection, with state law mandating access to cancer tests and reimbursing some of the costs. And we have to do the same nationally.

That’s why I will continue to fight to pass the bipartisan FIRE Cancer Act, which I am leading with my colleagues, Mike Lawler, Laura Gillen, and Don Bacon. This legislation will provide federal investments so that all firefighters across America — whether volunteer or professional — can get access to preventative tests, including multi-cancer early detection tests. In the cancer screening program, patients are rotated through three providers — a cardiopulmonary group for skin, mouth, and lymph node evaluations, a blood testing for cancer screening, and an ultrasound screening for thyroid, bladder, and testicular cancer.

The bottom line is that if you are a firefighter, you should be screened for cancer on a regular basis at no out-of-pocket cost to you. This is the least we can do for the sacrifices you and your families make. Year in and year out, as a member of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus, I have fought to increase funding for AFG and SAFER grants. We know they make a huge difference in helping our often cash-strapped local departments invest in everything from new trucks and ambulances to air packs, and to help hire, train, and retain firefighters. Fires don’t just happen between 9 to 5, so we need enough firefighters ready to respond around the clock. 

Since I was elected, working with our departments, I’ve helped claw back more than 16 million in funding for AFG and SAFER grants to our towns and cities, including AFG funding and three million in SAFER funding right here in Englewood. That makes our communities and families safer, and protects local taxpayers’ wallets.

I also sponsored the bipartisan Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act to expand death and disability benefits for the families of firefighters and other first responders who are impacted by service-related cancers. 

I proudly backed the bipartisan Never Forget the Heroes Act — and I helped pass this critical legislation into law to extend the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. And, last year, as Co-Chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus, I also helped champion the bipartisan, bicameral Social Security Fairness Act, which is now law, and ensures that public servants and your families receive full Social Security benefits. A huge win! And, well deserved. Because those who devote their careers to service —firefighters, law enforcement, educators, and more — should never struggle to access their pension and Social Security benefits at retirement.

I couldn’t have more respect for the critical and dangerous work that you take on. This isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue — it’s a what’s good for America issue. As I have said since day one, we must always stand by those who stand by us — who help make our neighborhoods the places we want to live, raise our families, and do business.

Here in the greatest country in the world, I know that if we stand together with our first responders, our best days will always be ahead of us. May God bless you, your families, and all of our first responders.

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