The Biden administration made good on a promised, but long-delayed pay raise for federal firefighters on Tuesday. The first of those temporary payments should be delivered next month.
The pay raises were included in the $1 trillion infrastructure bill signed into law last fall.
It authorized agencies to increase federal firefighters’ base salary by either $20,000 annually or 50% of their current base salary, whichever is lower, through 2023.
The legislation said the pay hike would only apply to places where it’s difficult to recruit and retain firefighters, but later analysis determined that this difficulty is seen everywhere across the nation.
The infrastructure bill will cover the cost of the raises through September 2023. The payments will be included in firefighter paychecks starting this July. They’ll also get back pay for the raises dating back to October 2021.