"I am done with this heat."
NPS Photo

July 22, 2025 - WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Monday, Congressman Tom McClintock released the following:

The Law Enforcement Officer and Firefighter Recreation Pass Act, H.R 183 by Rep. Tom McClintock (CA-05), has passed the House of Representatives and next goes to the Senate.  

The Law Enforcement Officer and Firefighter Recreation Pass Act provides law enforcement and firefighting organizations, including federal, state, local, and Native American tribes, with passes to access National Parks. Law enforcement officers and firefighters will join U.S. military members, veterans and Gold Star Families in receiving this benefit.  

“These men and women, just like those who serve our military, put their lives on the line to protect our families, and it seems fitting that we should extend this small courtesy to them.  It is simply a way to say, “Thank you” to them – a simple but tangible token of our gratitude and esteem,” remarked Rep.  McClintock upon passage of the legislation.

The Congressman’s House floor remarks delivered in support of the measure are below:

Mr. Speaker: 

H.R. 183 simply extends a lifetime National Parks pass parks to the front-line public safety officers who every day risk their lives to protect our families and our communities.  

It is the same courtesy we already extend to U.S. Military members and their families, to our veterans and to our Gold Star families.  The CBO estimates its cost at about $500,000 a year.

These men and women, just like those who serve our military, put their lives on the line to protect our families, and it seems fitting that we should extend this small courtesy to them.  It is simply a way to say, “Thank you” to them – a simple but tangible token of our gratitude and esteem.

I first introduced this legislation during the George Floyd riots, when BLM rioters were chanting “Pigs in a blanket, fry’em like bacon” and leftist politicians were calling for defunding local police departments.  We recently expanded it to include fire-fighters and wildland fire-fighters, to whom we owe so much for protecting our homes, and towns and communities as well.

It was proposed to me by Janine D’Agostini, the wife of then-El Dorado County Sheriff John D’Agostini -- as a small token of appreciation for law enforcement officers who were taking so much abuse while they were trying so hard to protect our families from those who would prey on them.

It seems that wheel has come full circle, as law enforcement personnel are again the target of doxing, violent demonstrations, and leftist officials who so often seem to take the side of the lawless against the law-abiding.  Our hearts go out to the many officers of ICE, of CBP, and their families who have recently been subjected to violence and intimidation, often fanned by the extremist rhetoric of elected officials.

Just last week, while ICE served a court-ordered warrant in Carpenteria, a sitting member of Congress doxed an ICE agent to a violent mob.   That mob then took off after the agent and physically attacked him with rocks, injuring him seriously enough to require treatment in a hospital emergency room. 

This has to stop.  We want these brave men and women -- and their families --  to know that the vast, vast majority of the American people – and a majority of this Congress and, of course, this President -- stand behind them, appreciate them, and honor their work.  We depend on them not only for our safety, but for the very rule of law itself.  After all, without law enforcement there is no law, and without law, there is no civilization -- as people in sanctuary cities like Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago and New York are learning once again.

This bill was first introduced in 2021, it received a hearing in 2023 but was never marked up.  It is long overdue and I appreciate the House finally considering it today.
Source: Congressman Tom McClintock