News

On October 28, President Obama signed the FY 2010 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act (H.R. 2892), which provides funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the next year, including important fire service grant programs such as the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) program and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant program. AFG funds equipment, training and apparatus purchases by local fire departments while SAFER funds the hiring of career firefighters as well as programs to recruit and retain volunteers.

 

H.R. 2892 funds AFG at $390 million – a $175 million reduction from FY 2009 – while doubling funding for SAFER from $210 million in FY 2009 to $420 million. In May, President Obama proposed slashing AFG to $170 million, the lowest funding request for the program since then-President Bush proposed eliminating the program altogether in FY 2003. The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) expressed strong disagreement with the President’s budget request in a series of letters to and meetings with the administration and Congress.

 

House and Senate appropriators eventually restored $210 million in funding above the President’s budget request, and the NVFC worked with Congressman Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), Congressman Jason Altmire (D-PA), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), each of whom offered amendments to increase AFG funding when H.R. 2892 and S. 1298 (Senate companion legislation) was considered by the full House and Senate. Because of those amendments, House and Senate appropriators agreed to increase AFG funding by $10 million.

 

“I’d like to thank the House and Senate Appropriators – particularly Congressman David Price (D-NC), Congressman Harold Rogers (R-KY), Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), and Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) – for restoring $210 million in funding above President Obama’s budget request for AFG,” said NVFC Chairman Philip C. Stittleburg. “Additionally, I’d like to thank Congressman Pascrell, Congressman Altmire, Congresswoman Judy Biggert (R-IL), Senator Dodd, and Senator Sanders for offering amendments to increase AFG funding above the level initially approved by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.”

 

The combined funding level for AFG and SAFER ($810 million) is the highest ever for the programs. The NVFC supports full funding for AFG and SAFER and is pleased with the increase that SAFER received, but is concerned that increases for SAFER have historically been carved out of AFG. In FY 2004, the year before SAFER first received an appropriation, AFG was funded at $746 million. The FY 2010 funding level for AFG is $356 million below that high-water mark while SAFER funding has increased every year since 2004.

 

Beyond AFG and SAFER, H.R. 2892 contains funding for a variety of programs that impact the fire service, including the State Homeland Security Grant Program, the Urban Areas Security Initiative, and Citizen Corps. The conference report for H.R. 2892, which includes funding levels for all DHS programs, can has been posted online.