Congressman Sam Graves (MO-06) today praised a decision by the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) concerning the treatment of volunteer firefighters and other volunteer emergency responders under Obamacare’s employer mandate.

“Treasury and the IRS made the right call with this commonsense decision for rural communities and volunteer firefighters,” said Graves, who is a volunteer firefighter in Tarkio. “The potential disruption to fire and rescue services in towns throughout the Sixth District could have been enormous without this clarification.”

Graves was concerned that volunteer firefighters would be counted when the IRS determined the number of full-time employees of the ‘shared responsibility requirements’ under the Obamacare employer mandate, leading to the potential closure of firehouses in areas that could not afford to provide health coverage or pay a fine. As a result, Graves joined Rep. Lou Barletta (PA-11) and others in introducing the Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act (H.R. 3685) to ensure that volunteer firefighters and emergency responders would not be counted in that determination. The Treasury Department late Friday instead announced that it would follow the course of action recommended in the Barletta-Graves legislation and exclude such volunteers.