By Laura DeKoven Waxman
May 30, 2011

The House Appropriations Committee voted 27-20 May 24 to cut FY 2012 funding for state and local homeland security grant programs to $1 billion, more than 50 percent below this year’s level and more than 62 percent below the FY 2010 level. The President proposed a total of $2.76 billion for these programs next year. In addition, the Committee bill would combine the various programs into a single program to be administered at the discretion of the Secretary of Homeland Security. The bill was reported out of subcommittee May 13.

Separately, the bill would cut firefighter grants 54 percent from a total of $810 million this year to $350 million next year, with $200 million designated for Firefighter Assistance Grants and $150 million for SAFER Hiring Grants. Both of these programs were funded at $405 million this year.

In contrast, the bill would fund Emergency Management Performance Grants at $350 million, $10 million more than is available this year. In addition, during the markup the full Committee added $1 billion in additional disaster relief funding to be used this year to help FEMA respond to recent flooding along the Mississippi River and tornadoes in the Midwest.

In a letter to the Representatives Harold Rogers (KY) and Chairman and Ranking Member of the Appropriations Committee Norm Dicks (WA), Conference of Mayors Second Vice President Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter, Chair of the Conference of Mayors Task Force on Mayors and Police Chiefs, and Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, President of both the Police Executive Research Forum and Major Cities Chiefs, urged the Committee to restore the funding.

“It is particularly ironic that these cuts and changes, which we strongly oppose, are proposed in the same year that our nation is marking the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks and at the same time that cities across the nation are increasing counterterrorism operations because of concern with possible retribution for the killing of Osama bin Laden,” Nutter and Ramsey wrote. “It is police officers and other local authorities – in touch with their communities and a presence in them every day – who often gather the intelligence and take the action needed to stop terrorist threats.”

Nutter and Ramsey pointed out that the cuts are coming at the same time that many local governments are facing severe funding limitations due to decreased revenues and limited ability to increase those revenues, and many cities have been forced to lay off first responders, including police officers and firefighters.

“While we understand the severe fiscal constraints facing the Committee, we are confident that needed funding reductions could be spread more equitably across the homeland security spending bill,” Nutter and Ramsey wrote. “We urge you to restore funding for these programs at least to this year’s funding levels.”

The homeland security spending bill specifies that within the $1 billion, $55 million be earmarked for Operation Stonegarden and $192.7 million be used for training, exercises and technical assistance. It also would limit the Urban Area Secrutiy Initiative (UASI) program to the ten highest risk urban areas.

Language from the Appropriations Committee’s release shows the Committee’s apparent disdain for the current structure and administration of these programs. “The bill includes long-overdue reform of the state and local grant program under the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which has been plagued by inefficiency and has been unable to demonstrate a measurable return on taxpayer investments.”