Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act
FASTER AND SMARTER FUNDING FOR FIRST RESPONDERS ACT -- (House of Representatives - May 12, 2005)
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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I would like at the outset to follow the conversation, saying this committee has worked very well on this legislation. It is bipartisan. The 14 hours we put in working on it in committee went very well. I would like to compliment the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell), the ranking member of the Emergency Preparedness, Science, and Technology Subcommittee, for his work on this issue.
Mr. Chairman, I support H.R. 1544, the Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act. Our first responders, whether they are firefighters, law enforcement, or EMS providers, are the first line of defense. We must provide them with additional resources, training, and information they need in order to meet the challenges.
Preparing for, preventing, and responding to any large incident is primarily a local responsibility. Still, the Federal Government has a significant role. H.R. 1544 was introduced in April. It was co-sponsored by all the Democrats and Republicans on the Committee on Homeland Security, and it was approved unanimously by voice vote of that same committee. In addition, this bill is supported by every major first responder organization in the country. This version is a compromise that was reached during the 108th Congress in order to pass out of the House of Representatives at that point. The current system for distributing funding to first responders is fundamentally broken and is not getting the funding where it needs to go in a timely fashion.
Currently, funding is distributed solely on the basis of an arbitrary formula that does not consider risk in any part of the country. H.R. 1544 ensures that homeland security funding for first responders is distributed on the basis of risk regardless of community type.
As a former mayor and volunteer firefighter from Mississippi, I am very concerned that the needs of rural America are not adequately being considered when DHS allocates homeland security funding. Maintaining a State minimum of .25 percent for most States and .45 for certain border States strikes a difficult, but necessary, balance. On one hand the government must consider risk in distributing the funding. On the other hand, the government must ensure that each State will have the funding to reach a minimum level of preparedness.
H.R. 1544 does not mean that all funding will go to States and communities with a high population or high threat. For the first time, DHS will assess risk in every community regardless of whether it is urban, suburban, or rural. After all, we do not know where terrorists will strike next.
One issue that is very important to my State is the issue of flood control levees. I worked to ensure that flood control levees are included in the definition of dams on the critical infrastructure.
This bill establishes a First Responder Grant Board to prioritize grant applications using threat, vulnerability, and consequences. Mr. Chairman, H.R. 1544 also helps target funding to the essential capabilities of first responders in order to prevent, prepare for, and respond to acts of terrorism.
But this bill is not perfect, Mr. Chairman. There are personnel shortages that ought to be covered in this program. There are a number of other things that I look forward to working with the chairman on correcting in other legislation. However, for what we have before us today, I am in support of it from the outset. It is the right thing to do. We have to target the resources based on risk. This legislation does that.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, let me again thank the chairman of the committee for working with the minority on this legislation. It has been a very bipartisan effort. It speaks well for his leadership. I compliment him on it.
I look forward to the passage of this legislation and working on other pieces of legislation of mutual agreement which we have already discussed. It appears that additional legislation will be forthcoming. I would like to thank the ranking member of the committee, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell), for providing me significant leadership in this legislation.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Berry) allowing me to speak on his amendment.
My district is reliant on agriculture. This amendment is very supportive of the agriculture through the APHIS program. If the administrator is allowed to participate in the grants board, it will allow us, from an agricultural standpoint, to be adequately considered. I would like to compliment the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Berry) for bringing this to our attention. It is timely in terms of an amendment, and it is something that I am happy to support.
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AMENDMENT NO. 2 OFFERED BY MR. BERRY
Mr. BERRY. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment.
This amendment would ensure that the First Responder Grant Board would coordinate with State and local governments. Throughout this process we have sought to ensure that State, local, and tribal governments are consulted throughout this process. This amendment would make it crystal clear to DHS that we expect them to listen to State, local, and tribal governments as they make their funding decisions. I support this amendment.
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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, in order to speak on this amendment, I claim the time in opposition.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson) is recognized for 10 minutes.
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, only for the sake of discussion and procedure do I do that, as I am in absolute agreement with the author of the amendment.
This amendment adds an additional paragraph for reimbursement of costs that a State may incur for terrorism preparedness. It would allow for the reimbursement for activities that a State may perform which are traditionally Federal responsibilities. It is common sense, it is the right thing, and I support this amendment.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman of the committee for yielding me this time to speak in opposition to the amendment.
This amendment would limit the number of urban area security initiative grants to 50. I understand what the gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner) is trying to accomplish; and he has to do it, he is from New York. However, it is unreasonable to set an arbitrary number, in this case 50, for the number of UASI or regional grants.
In the bill, we already limit the number of regions by requiring a region to have at least 1.65 million people. This would adequately limit the number of recipients in itself. So I oppose this amendment.
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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
This amendment would remove civil liability barriers from the donation of fire equipment for volunteer fire companies. As a former volunteer firefighter from a small community, I understand how important it is to have the equipment you need to protect fellow citizens. Although I am going to support this amendment, the issue needs to be studied further once we get into conference. I am concerned that there are no assurances that the equipment would perform as expected, and therefore, many of the firefighters who would use this equipment potentially could be harmed.
We must ensure that our firefighters are adequately protected.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
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