Fire Improvement and Reforming Exceptional Events Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. STANSBURY. Mr. Speaker, it is Earth Day tomorrow, and yet here we are today in front of the House Chamber with yet another bill attacking our fundamental environmental health bills.

Mr. Speaker, I stand here in strong opposition to H.R. 6387, the FIRE Act, but more importantly, I rise in fierce defense of the environmental laws that protect our people and our planet. Because on Earth Day, instead of celebrating progress, we are watching a coordinated effort to dismantle the very safeguards that generations of Americans, Democrats and Republicans, have put in place.

The Clean Air Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Endangered Species Act are all on the chopping block this week of all weeks.

They are the reason our air is safer to breathe, our water is cleaner to drink, and our national heritage still exists for us today and for future generations. These laws were not passed in this Chamber lightly. They were enacted with overwhelming bipartisan support because leaders on both sides of the aisle understood something fundamental, that protecting the public health, that protecting the environment, that protecting planet Earth is not a partisan issue, but it is a patriotic duty.

They created a simple but powerful framework: follow the science, measure honestly, inform the public, and give communities the opportunity to weigh in.

Today, that framework, and so many of our environmental laws, are being systematically weakened here, bill by bill, loophole by loophole.

Today, the FIRE Act is another clear example of that approach as this bill does not actually reduce pollution but changes the way we measure it by expanding what qualifies as an exceptional event like heat and drought, allowing States to exclude air pollution from official records.

These are not rare anomalies anymore. This is the very heart of climate change evident in the data itself. Instead of addressing the crisis, this bill is trying to erase it by obscuring it in the data, in the science.

Why does this matter? Because accurate data is the foundation for every protection we have under our environmental laws. It determines whether our communities can meet basic standards, whether it is safe for us to be outside, whether it is safe for us to drink water, whether it is safe for us to consume products, whether it is safe for us to continue to protect the fundamental basis of our natural ecological heritage.

Whether it is bypassing environmental review under NEPA, rolling back species protections under the Endangered Species Act, or trying to redefine the very foundation for how we carry out the Clean Air Act, as this bill does, the result is the same: less accountability, more risk for Americans, and chipping away piece by piece at the protections that generations before us fought for in this body to protect the planet and our communities.

Mr. Speaker, I have to say, especially in 2026 as our communities are not only facing more intense heat waves but some of the most catastrophic snowpack and drought conditions certainly in my lifetime, this is not a time to be rolling back environmental protections.

Let's be honest about who this is really about. It is not for the American people. It is not for families who are worried about whether or not their children will be able to breathe. It is not for the communities that are on the frontlines of climate change. It is not for the people of this planet and this country. It is for powerful interests, industries that have worked to weaken protections and avoid accountability.

This week, on Earth Day week, we have a choice: Do we stand with the bedrock laws that have protected this country and our communities for decades? Do we uphold the bipartisan legacy of our air, our land, our wildlife, and our water, or do we walk away from it?

I will tell you this, Mr. Speaker: I stand with science, with our communities, and with our future generations.

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