By Ed Somers
October 7, 2002

A team of mayors, police chiefs and fire chiefs met on the afternoon of Mayors Lobby Day with key members of the House and Senate to help secure direct homeland security funding for cities. The delegation also strongly advocated that existing programs such as the COPS program and the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant must be continued.

A complete listing of the priorities related to this area can be found in the brochure used for Lobby Day which is on page 6.

The group was led by Reno Mayor Jeff Griffin, Chair of the Conference's Criminal and Social Justice Committee, and met with: 1) Sen. Patrick Leahy (VT), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee; 2) Sen. Judd Gregg (NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Justice Appropriations Subcommittee; and 3) Rep. Frank Wolf (VA), Chair of the House Justice Appropriations Subcommittee.

In all three meetings, the mayors and chiefs stressed the importance of direct funding and the need to have resources provided this year. The mayors expressed extreme concern with the prospect of a major continuing resolution which could result in no new funding being provided on homeland security. A Congressional continuing resolution, or CR, continues programs without any legislative changes until a new law is passed.

In the discussion with Rep. Wolf, the congressman raised serious concern with the overall funding levels as dictated by the Administration's FY 2003 budget, which he said will result in a major shortfall in the amount of funds available to his subcommittee for law enforcement and homeland security activities. Chairman Wolf urged the mayors and chiefs to work closely with the Administration to see if additional funding can be put in the overall budget for law enforcement and homeland security so that the President does not have to veto the final appropriation bills.

Sen. Gregg spoke of the importance of coordination in homeland security, coming from his perspective as a former Governor and original co'sponsor of federal domestic preparedness legislation. The mayors and chiefs assured him that cities already have mutual aid agreements in place that could be strengthened by direct funding.

Leahy Supports COPS, Block Grant Funding

Through the leadership of Burlington (VT) Mayor Peter Clavelle, mayors met with Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (VT) to discuss the Homeland Security Block Grant and levels of funding for COPS and the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant. Leahy, who is also a member of the Appropriations Committee, reiterated his strong support for full funding of the two Department of Justice crime fighting programs (COPS and LLEBG) and told the mayors that he had relayed to the Administration that these programs were even more important to the nation in light of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Gary Mayor Scott King made the case for direct funding to cities of Homeland Security Block Grant funds, saying that an extra state level of bureaucracy was an inefficient way to spend scarce homeland security dollars. He told the Senator that the Conference would support provisions to ensure that small states, such as Vermont, would receive significant allocations.