PFAS Firefighter Protections Boosted in Latest Spending Bill

Firefighters would get significant help under Democrats’ $1.75 trillion social and climate spending legislation to secure protective firefighting equipment and more environmentally friendly firefighting foam to curb their exposures to so-called “forever chemicals.”

A proposed $95 million would fund grants through fiscal 2022 for the Federal Emergency Management Administration for personal protective equipment and to acquire firefighting foam free of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.

The funding is tucked into the latest draft of President Joe Biden’s reconciliation package—which the president outlined in a framework Thursday—now before the House Rules Committee.

The proposed funding is $15 million more than ...