Thank you all. Thank you so much. It's great to be here. It's great to have you in our nation's capital. I always say to everybody -- this is a very big group. I can't see any of you because these spotlights are glaring bright. The person who runs these spotlights must be a Democrat, because I cannot see a single person in that crowd.
But I'm told there's about 700 of you out there. And so I say to everybody, whether it's a small school group or 700 great firefighters from all across our country, that this is your nation's capital, this is your capital. Your tax dollars built these beautiful monuments and museums. And I know you got a lot of work to do while you're here in Washington, but I hope each and every one of you gets to enjoy this beautiful city, especially as the weather turns really nice here in Washington DC. Now, the one bad thing about the weather is when it starts to get warm, you know as a politician we're gearing up for political campaign season.
And I'm probably as sick of politics as you all are, so that's the one downside. But I hope you enjoy this beautiful spring weather and enjoy your nation's capital while you're here. We're thrilled to have you. And I just want to say thank you so much to Ed and to the entire team at the International Association of Firefighters.
Ed Kelly has been a great advocate for you and for firefighters all across the United States of America. In fact, when we met backstage very briefly, we talked a little bit about some of the great legislative accomplishments of the Trump administration and we'll talk a bit about that here in a second. But then the second half of the conversation was Ed trying to shake me down even more.
He was trying to think what else can we get out of this administration, and I love that. I love a guy who fights for his people. I love a firefighter who knows he stands for and represents firefighters. And I hope all of you know that we're going to work with you over the next few years to continue to solve the problems that exist for our firefighting community.
One of the things that that a lot of you know about this administration and hopefully appreciate about this administration, but I'm going to make my pitch here, is that we have been unique among Republicans in that we haven't turned away organized labor. We have tried to find ways to work with organized labor.
Not that we're always going to agree, but another great Bostonian Sean O'Brien, the head of the Teamsters union, we found ways to work together to serve working people. And there is no group of people that is harder working and more important for our community than our firefighters. And so thank you all for being here.
And thank you for honoring me by inviting me to -- to give you a few remarks today. Now before I get into some of some of my other remarks, I want to just start on a slightly somber note here because on a personal level, I was honored to be able to participate in the dignified transfer of six American soldiers who were killed overseas in this -- in this -- in this conflict with Iran.
And I had never done that before, and a lot of you served our nation in uniform. I know, uh, a number of our firefighters have all across our country. And I just want to say that if -- if you are the praying type, and I certainly am, I hope you'll spare a prayer for the six souls that we lost, for the seventh soul who will be coming home tonight, and for all of their families.
You all know better than almost any category of Americans what it means to put on a uniform and to sacrifice for our country. And so I hope you'll share a moment of prayer for our brothers in arms, for your brothers in arms who keep this country safe in their own way just as you keep the country safe and your particular way.
So to move on a little bit, let me just say that what we have tried to do in the Trump administration, what we have tried to accomplish is to make your lives easier, knowing, of course, that we're never going to be able to make your lives completely easy. You guys have some of the hardest jobs that exist anywhere in the United States of America and you represent thousands and thousands of firefighters all across the United States of America, who make it possible for our communities to be safe, who make it possible for our communities to -- to run smoothly, who make it possible for a kid to be able to call 911 if they have to, and know that a man or a woman who is professional, who is competent and who is caring is going to show up when we need them.
And that's the thing that I admire so much about all of you. You know, every country, every empire, every society in history made it possible for a rich person to get what they needed. But what makes the United States so unique, is that whether you're rich or poor, you're Black or White, when you need public services, when you need your police officers, when you need your firefighters, when you need those EMT specialists, we make it and we try hard to make it so that everybody who needs something in that critical moment has access to it. Everybody deserves public safety, not just rich people.
Every person deserves to know that if, God forbid their house catches on fire, there's going to be somebody with water there to put it out, not just the powerful. And what I admire about this spirit of public service that exists in this community is that every single one of you put on a uniform, the people that you serve put on a uniform and make it possible for kids like me, kids who didn't grow up with a silver spoon in their mouth, to have access to that critical public safety and that security in their neighborhoods.
Now a lot of you -- um, you know, I came and spoke in Boston a couple of years ago and so what I say may come -- um, well, you may have heard me say it in Boston, but I'm going to repeat it for those of you who didn't hear me say it in Boston, which is that, you know, a couple of times, I was one of those scared little kids who had to call the firefighters, who had to call the EMTs.
You know, my -- my own mother struggled with opioid addiction for a very large chunk of my life. And I remember when she was having a particularly dark moment and she was -- she needed some help. I needed some help. Our family needed some help. I picked up the phone, I called 911 and a number of brave, professional, compassionate firefighters from Middletown, Ohio, showed up and they calmed my mom down and they made it possible for us to go on with the rest of our day.
They made a kid who was scared to death, feel like he had an ally in this world. I will never forget that. I will never forget, also, when we had to call 911. It wasn't a firefighter, it was an EMT who came and took my mom to the hospital because she had had a very terrible overdose. And I remember holding her hand, hoping to God that she would be OK, that she would wake up. We know a lot of our people have not woken up when they have those opioid overdoses.
But by the grace of God, my mom did wake up. And by the way she's now been clean and sober for north of 11 years. We celebrated her 10 year sobriety. Thank you. We celebrate -- celebrated her ten years of sobriety in the West Wing of the White House. What an incredible testament to the American dream, that a woman I thought would never live to meet my children is now the best grandmother to those children that they could ever ask for, and we celebrated that sobriety in the People's White House.
But that moment, that -- the many moments of second chances that we've gotten with my mom -- and I love you, mom, if you're watching this. She probably is. She watches everything. I don't know why, but she does. But mom, we would not have gotten that second chance were it not for the firefighters all across our country, for the EMT specialists all across our country who make it possible for second chances again and again and again.
What you guys do is not easy and as you all know, it doesn't always pay as well as it should. But it does give people, millions of Americans all across this nation a sense that somebody is looking out for them. And that's one of the reasons why I love what you do, why I'm so honored to be here, is because you are the glue that holds so many of American communities together.
You know, I talked a little bit about the -- the folks that we lost in Iran and we're so thankful for their service and so hopeful that nobody else comes home having lost their life. But I think there's a brotherhood, a sisterhood between the military, the police officers and the firefighters, because you are the three categories of people who put on a uniform and put your lives at risk for your communities.
You've got different jobs, you have different role to play roles to play, but I think it's an amazing testament to our country, maybe the single most important resource that we have as a United States of America is that every single one of you is willing to sacrifice your life. Hopefully you never will, but every single one of you is willing to sacrifice your life for this great country and for the people that you serve in your communities.
I just want you to know, from the president of the United States, but from everybody, I think I can say comfortably even in partisan and difficult times, that I represent the whole country when I say to all of our members of the International Association of Firefighters, we are thankful to you, we are proud of you, we love you and we're going to do everything we can to support you.
Now let me talk just a little bit about what it means to really support you because I think it's important. It's of course important that the Vice President stand up here and say how grateful he is and I certainly am. I'm grateful to each and every one of you and the people you serve, but it's not just about words, it's about action.
And that's one of the things I'm proudest about this administration, is that we have actually backed up the pride and the support and the gratitude that we have for all of you with very meaningful action. You heard Ed talk a little bit about the Social Security Fairness Act. Well, one of the reasons why that happened is because the president of United States -- and I believe it was even before the inauguration, the president of the United States made sure that Congressional Republicans stayed on top of that legislation and we worked to get it done.
That happened because of presidential leadership. Do you think Joe Biden was making those phone calls, ladies and gentlemen? I just got to say, I don't -- I don't think so. Sorry, I got a little partisan there. But we owe it to Americans who've suffered through exposure to toxic chemicals, especially the first responders who seek to protect others from harm.
We owe it to you to actually look after you and to take care of you. In that vein, one of the first pieces of legislation I ever worked on was the Railway Safety Act. And I'll never forget your support in making that act a possibility. We actually got it, by the way, into the most recent transportation package.
I'm sure Ed and all of you will use your very able lobbying and persuasion tactics to make sure that that legislation actually becomes law. Because here's the thing, when I met the firefighters who dealt with that terrible train derailment in East Palestine, one of the things that I picked up is, you know, they weren't angry.
They weren't mad. That was their job. They went into a very dangerous situation because that was their job and that's what they expect to do. But they were worried about one thing, what might happen with all these toxic chemicals that were in the air? Would they have long-term problems? Would they suffer some consequences?
And one of the things that Secretary Kennedy and I worked on is making sure that we are studying the long-term effects of toxic chemical exposure in East Palestine. We appropriated millions of dollars, and trust me, when I was a Senator, I worked to get that money from the last administration just to understand the effects of toxic chemical exposure over time.
And we didn't have that until this administration came along and Secretary Kennedy made it a priority, because we want you all to know if, God forbid you run into harm's way, what are the consequences going to be you for the -- be to you over the long haul. And importantly, what are the kinds of medical treatments that you're going to need if you're in that situation to make sure that the sacrifice that you make in the line of duty doesn't become more than it has to be. Those are the kinds of tangible steps that we are trying to take.
Now, we know that President Kelly and President Trump, we all have our own presidents, my friends, he was a huge proponent and I'm glad for this, of the Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act. Now that was critically important legislation that you all know President Trump signed into law just a few months ago. Now, as Ed can tell you, this law extends legal benefits for firefighters and first responders who pass away from cancers caused by exposure in the line of duty.
Now when a firefighter, when one of you becomes ill or, God forbid, loses your life because of cancer that was developed in the line of duty, their families are entitled to federal benefits that they earned. It's a big one. Now I say they already earned them because we owe it to Americans who've suffered through exposure to toxic chemicals, especially the first responders who go into harm's way to protect others from harm.
That is what this administration is all about, making sure that the Social Security system treats you fairly, making sure that you get the benefits or if, God forbid, you pass away, your families get the benefits that you deserve, making sure that we take care of the people who take care of us. That is the legacy of the Trump administration when it comes to our firefighters, and that is a legacy that we're going to keep on building on over the next three years of President Trump's leadership.
Now I want to close with a very simple point. This is an administration that is fighting first and foremost for working men and women. I talked about that a little bit at the beginning. We're especially fighting for working men and women who serve the public interest and that's what all of you do. You know, when I was a little kid, I wanted to be a United States Marine.
Some kids want to be doctors, other kids want to be teachers, some want to be astronauts, but as you know, a lot of kids, a lot of little kids all across our country, they want to be firefighters. That's a great testament to the work that you do every single day. I guess my point here is that every kid in our country has dreams and those dreams come in many shapes and sizes.
And what I want most of all is for your service and your sacrifice to be rewarded by all of us living in a country where you don't have to be rich or lucky to obtain the American dream. You just got to have a little grit, a little determination and a lot of hard work. I want all of us, your kids and mine to live in safe neighborhoods.
I want us to send our kids to good schools. I want our families to not have to live paycheck to paycheck. And that's why our administration is fighting for all the policies that we've been fighting for, from the -- the low crime to reversing the inflation of the Biden years, because we want every single person in our community to be able to live a good life.
What is the work of all of you, of our firefighters and our EMTs, if it's not to ensure that every kid has an opportunity to live in safety and security? You do your part every single day and I'm proud of you for it, but that means that we've got to honor your service by doing our part here in Washington DC. So let me just say that all of you deserve to live in this great country and all of us in this administration are proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with you as we rebuild the United States of America.
I want you to be proud in your country because I know that your country and your president are very, very proud of you and we're grateful to you. Thank you for -- thanks everybody and God bless you.