Fairfax, Va., Dec. 18, 2011–The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and the Fire and Emergency Manufacturers and Services Association (FEMSA) reported today that on Saturday, Dec. 17, the U.S. Senate passed the conference report to H.R. 2055, the so-called “megabus” appropriations bill that will fund the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security, Agriculture, and Interior for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012. The legislation passed the House of Representatives on Friday, so it now goes to the President for his expected signature.
Some highlights of the legislation include:
- The U.S. Fire Administration would receive $44.04 million, which is an approximately $1.55 million cut. This cut is less than the President and the House of Representatives proposed.
- The waivers for the requirements to the SAFER grant program were extended for both FY 2011 and FY 2012, so that fire departments also can re-hire and retain firefighters.
- The FIRE and SAFER grants would be funded at $337.5 million each, which is a cut of $67.5 million for each program. FEMSA noted that this level of funding represents a 17 percent cut over FY 2011. The original House number was $335 million and the Senate, $375 million.
- Funding for all of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s homeland security grants, including the Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS), the State Homeland Security Grant Program, the Urban Areas Security Initiative, Citizen Corps, and the Interoperable Communications Grant would be a combined $1.35 billion, allocated at the Secretary’s discretion. In the past, each of these programs were assigned specific funding levels. Now the Secretary will choose the amount of funding for each program (with certain caveats).
- The Urban Search and Rescue teams would receive $41.25 million, an increase of approximately $6 million.
- The combined funding for the FLAME funds at the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Interior would be $407.89 million, an increase of $55.89 million.
FEMSA noted that in total, FEMA’s state and local grant programs to first responders were cut a total of $1 billion over last year. DHS’s discretionary budget for FY 2012 will be $39.6 billion, roughly $2 billion less than FY 2011.
