PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 26, 2025
Firefighter Investments to Recognize Exposure to Cancer Act of 2025 or the FIRE Cancer Act of 2025
This bill expands the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) Assistance to Firefighters Grant program for fire departments and emergency medical services organizations to include cancer prevention programs (e.g., multi-cancer early detection testing) for firefighting personnel. It also establishes a joint cancer research program between FEMA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through which firefighting personnel may voluntarily share the anonymized results of preventative cancer testing so the CDC can study trends or causes of cancer in such personnel.
People & committees
Rep. Gottheimer, Josh [D-NJ-5] · D–NJ
Legislative record
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Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
Source last updated: Aug 20, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-26 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed FIRE Cancer Act of 2025 would add cancer prevention programs, including early detection and other preventive tests, to the permitted uses of federal grants for firefighting personnel. It would also require federal agencies to create a voluntary way for firefighters to share anonymized test results for research into cancer trends or causes.
This Act may be cited as the Firefighter Investments to Recognize Exposure to Cancer Act of 2025 or the FIRE Cancer Act of 2025.
(F) To establish cancer prevention programs for firefighting personnel, including providing multi-cancer early detection testing or other forms of preventative tests.
The Administrator of FEMA and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shall jointly establish a voluntary program through which firefighting personnel may share with the Centers results of multi-cancer early detection testing or other forms of preventative tests in order to identify any trends or causes of cancer in such personnel.
Any such results shall be shared in an anonymized, de-identified manner that safeguards the personally identifiable information of such personnel in order to prevent attribution to any such personnel of any such shared results.
The bill would authorize Congress to provide $700 million for these cancer prevention grants. This authorizes funding; it does not itself provide the money.
(4) Cancer prevention programs There is authorized to be appropriated $700,000,000 for grants under subsection (c)(3)(F).
For each test designed to detect multiple cancers early, or other preventive test, no more than $1,750 of the available cancer prevention grant funds could be committed and spent. This limits the grant contribution per test, rather than setting a total price limit for the test.
Not more than $1,750 from available grant funds under subsection (c)(3)(F) may be obligated and expended for each multi-cancer early detection test or other form of preventative test.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency's Administrator and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would have to jointly establish the test-result sharing program. Firefighting personnel could choose whether to share results with the Centers; identifying cancer trends or causes is the program's stated purpose, not an established outcome.
The Administrator of FEMA and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shall jointly establish a voluntary program through which firefighting personnel may share with the Centers results of multi-cancer early detection testing or other forms of preventative tests in order to identify any trends or causes of cancer in such personnel.
Shared test results would have to be anonymized and stripped of identifying information, with personal information protected so the results could not be attributed to individual firefighting personnel.
Any such results shall be shared in an anonymized, de-identified manner that safeguards the personally identifiable information of such personnel in order to prevent attribution to any such personnel of any such shared results.
The bill would renumber existing provisions to make room for the new grant use and research program. It would also update an existing statutory cross-reference from subparagraph (F) to (G). The underlying provision is not reproduced, so its substantive requirements cannot be explained from this bundle.
by redesignating subparagraphs (F) through (N) as subparagraphs (G) through (O), respectively
by redesignating subsection (r) as subsection (s)
Paragraph (1) of section 33(i) of the Federal Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2229(i)) is amended by striking described in subsection (c)(3)(F) and inserting described in subsection (c)(3)(G).
The supplied August 20, 2026 source snapshot records introduction in the House and referral to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on February 26, 2025.
Source snapshot updated 2026-08-20T21:12:47Z. 2025-02-26: Referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. 2025-02-26: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-26. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version; formal earmark status cannot be fully assessed without accompanying materials, and absence in other versions or accompanying materials is not established.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
None identified in the reviewed text
No materially narrow carve-out, special exemption, or preferential exception beyond ordinary coverage of the program's intended beneficiaries was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not extend to other versions or accompanying materials.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Aug 20, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI