LANSING (AP) — Police and firefighters on Monday blasted a Republican-sponsored plan to cut their retiree health care benefits, calling it an “unconscionable” attack on people who risk their lives protecting the public.

The municipal retirement bills , which were introduced last week and were the subject of an initial committee hearing, will be debated again Tuesday. Labor unions and other groups representing police and firefighters are fearful the GOP-controlled Legislature will enact the legislation in the postelection “lame-duck” period, which is scheduled to end Dec. 15.

They plan to rally Tuesday at the Capitol, where their leaders held a news conference Monday to criticize the 13-bill package and note that it could make it harder to recruit first responders after past concessions at the bargaining table.

Robert Stevenson, executive director of the Michigan Association of Police Chiefs, said it is “unconscionable” that surviving family members of police and firefighters who were killed in the line of duty could be forced to pay more for their health care.

Ken Grabowski, legislative director for the Police Officers Association of Michigan, said considering the bills in such a short window of time “is an insult to every police officer and retired police officer in this state.”