Support our Firefighters Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [S. 4271 Introduced in Senate (IS)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4271 To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide rest and recuperation leave for employees engaged in wildland firefighting, and for other purposes. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES March 26, 2026 Mr. Padilla (for himself and Mr. Sheehy) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide rest and recuperation leave for employees engaged in wildland firefighting, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Support our Firefighters Act''. SEC. 2. REST AND RECUPERATION LEAVE FOR EMPLOYEES ENGAGED IN WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING. (a) In General.--Subchapter II of chapter 63 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: ``Sec. 6329e. Rest and recuperation leave for employees engaged in wildland firefighting ``(a) Definitions.--In this section-- ``(1) the term `applicable Secretary' means the Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior, as applicable to a covered employee; ``(2) the term `covered employee' means an employee of the Forest Service or the Department of the Interior who-- ``(A) qualifies as a wildland firefighter based on the definitions of the terms `firefighter' and `wildland firefighter' in section 5332a(a) (applying the definition of `employee' in section 6301(2) in lieu of the definition of `employee' in section 5331(a)); or ``(B) is certified by the applicable Secretary to perform wildland fire incident-related duties during the period the e