1. United States
2. Pa.
3. Letter

As a volunteer firefighter and a constituent, I urge you to reopen the government without delay. This government shutdown has resulted in pause in many federal research efforts, review processes, funding and reimbursements that provide essential and irreplicable assistance to the nation’s fire, rescue, and EMS services. Of particular concern is the inability for local fire departments to accept grant awards and seek reimbursement purchases they’ve made with grant funds they’ve been awarded prior to this shutdown and the lapse in authorization of Medicare extender payments for ground ambulance service. Immediately before this government shutdown, FEMA notified fire departments whether they received FY 2024 Firefighters Grant (AFG), Fire Prevention & Safety (FP&S), and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grant Awards. This relatively late notification is already problematic because it afforded recipients of these grants much less flexibility than in previous years. This has been further complicated by the government shutdown because recipients of these grants have to accept these grant awards via the FEMA GO website, which is not functioning due to the government shutdown. While I am grateful that FEMA has extended the acceptance deadline for these grants to November 24, it is imperative that fire departments have sufficient time to accept these grants once the government reopens. An additional complication of FEMA GO not functioning is departments are unable to seek reimbursement via the AFG, SAFER, and FP&S grant awards they’ve received. Another major shutdown related concern for the nation’s volunteer EMS service is the reduced reimbursement rates for ground ambulances services. As of October 1, Medicare’s reimbursement rates for emergency ground ambulance service were reduced due to the lapsed authorization for Medicare to provide its extender payments for emergency ground ambulance transportation. This is a major financial concern because EMS calls often consist of the majority of calls fire departments respond to. Congress needs to address this concern by reopening the government and reauthorizing Medicare’s ground ambulance extender payments.   It is critical that Congress act without delay to reopen the federal government. Each day the government is closed only further exacerbates the financial challenges many rural communities and volunteer departments throughout the country face.