Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security Holds Hearing on FY2004 Appropriations
FDCH TRANSCRIPTS
Congressional Hearings
Apr. 8, 2003
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security Holds Hearing on FY2004 Appropriations
MURRAY:
Thank you very much Mr. Chairman.
And Mr. Brown, thank you for being here today. I think the training we do for first responders is extremely important. I think we need to do everything we can to better prepare our communities for natural disasters or terrorists attacks or whatever is out there. And I know that several directors within the department are working on the training issue. I've talked to Secretary Ridge about this as well.
Last year there was a lot of talk about the importance of developing a national strategy on training and I'm curious what happened to that national strategy, if you can give us an update on that?
BROWN:
That's still in the works. That's one of the things that EP&R is taking on within the department to develop, just like we're trying to develop and put together the national response plan. We're also trying to put together a national training program.
MURRAY:
But we haven't developed a national strategy on training as of yet?
BROWN:
Not yet.
MURRAY:
How do you we...
BROWN:
We still have the training programs within FEMA that are transferring and as we put the department together, as of March 1st, we are now trying to develop those kinds of strategies.
MURRAY:
Well, how can we know when an appropriate level of funding is unless we know what the national strategy is on that?
BROWN:
I'm not sure I'm equipped to answer that for you, Senator.
MURRAY:
Well, we'll be having to make a decision on this Committee on how much to put into training and unless we know what the national strategy is, it's going to be difficult to do.
BROWN:
I'll be happy to take that back and formulate an answer for you.
MURRAY:
OK. Last year, Mike Burns visited my home state of Washington to see the Hammer Training and Education Facility that's located in Richland, Washington. That is a training facility that's used by FEMA already. It's also used by the Department of State and Marine Corps; Army National Guard, Department of Energy, and local law enforcements; it's an excellent facility.
Can you give me an update on what the administration's consideration of Hammer is for training purposes?
BROWN:
We want to take all of the assets that we have in homeland security and expand those. We have not only Emmetsburg, we have the Nobel Training Facility and we have your facility in Washington. We want to take all of those and enhance them as much as possible.
Because I personally, and I think department-wide we all agree that whatever facilities we currently have, we must expand and make them as efficient as possible and utilize them as best as possible.
MURRAY:
Do you have a timeline for when you'll be making those decisions? And again, I ask because we're going to have to be making some decisions about funding and management that we need to move forward on. Do you have a timeline for when you would?
BROWN:
I'm being told that that timeline is now out to the states for them to be looking at to see what kind of timeline they need to start doing it. And there's apparently some money in ODP now to do that, for them to develop what they want to do with the facility and how they want to expand it.
MURRAY:
So are the states going to be responsible for the training or is your agency?
BROWN:
We'd be responsible for providing the money, but the training's actually done at the state and local level.
MURRAY:
Well, the Hammer Facility is a national facility. It's not just Washington State. It is for training nationally.
BROWN:
We'll just have to confess we're not familiar with that one and all the programs in it, but we will look into it.
MURRAY:
Well, if you could and if you could talk to Mike Burns, because he had been out. We can't just say Washington State, you're going to do Hammer as a national training facility, and it's going to take federal funds on we need direction on that.
BROWN:
Yes, we will find out.
MURRAY:
OK. In your testimony you talked about community emergency response teams, which I was happy to hear you reference, because I know that that is a very valuable program for training.
I recently spoke with some of the emergency management officials from my state about CERT and I have to tell you the answer I got from the ones in my state, reinforces to me that the federal government is not doing enough in this area to prevent another attack on our country.
I was told that Washington State got $70,000 for CERT training from FEMA in '02 and amazingly, the state only recently got approval from the department to spend the FY '02 money on training. We're here today to talk about the '04 budget, can you explain to me why the '02 money is just now going out the door?
BROWN:
That money, Senator, was from the supplemental, which came out in August. So, that may be why it's just now hitting the streets.
MURRAY:
Well, actually, my state was supposed to get $70,000 from the FEMA '02 budget for CERT training. They just got approval from the department right now to spend that '02 money. I'm just wondering why it's taking so long. This is from two years ago. It wasn't from the supplemental.
And my next question was going to be what about the '03 money? Are you getting that out the door?
I heard Senator Kohl talk about training and using some of that money for overtime and I would just caution us that if the money is not getting out there for training, it's not that it's not needed for training, it's just for some reason there's been some bureaucratic hang ups in getting it out there.
BROWN:
Well, I'm determined to go back and find out why, because we have an excellent reputation of getting the money out the door and I want to find out specifically why this hasn't. So, I'll find out and get that answer back to you.
MURRAY:
Because I think those training dollars are extremely important.
BROWN:
I couldn't agree more.
MURRAY:
OK. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.