Date: 2005-05-12
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of this bill. the Faster and Smarter Funding for First Responders Act. This is a common sense bill thaf will address the problems in the current formula that has been used to distribute first responder funding over the past 3 years. Since the September 11. 2001. terrorist attacks. the Homeland Security Department has provided nearly $10.5 billion directly to state and local "first responders." such as emergency personnel. law enforcement and other agencies. to enhance their ability to prepare for and respond to terrorist attacks. The USA PATRIOT Act guarantees each state. plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. at least 0.75 percent of the total funding available under the formulabased program. In allocating funding over the past 3 years. the Homeland Security Departments Office of Domestic Preparedness has provided the base amount. and has then distributed the remaining funding based on population. Under the current system in FY 2004 my home State of Texas received the second lowest amount of funding per capita. receiving only $5.35 per person. despite having the longest international border of any state. the second largest foreign port. and being home to the Johnson Space Center. as well as hundreds of energy production facilities and chemical plants. Wyoming however. which has no international borders or major metropolitan area. received $37.94 per capita. In its report. the September 11 Commission urged that first responder grants be distributed on the basis of risk. and this bill does that by lowering the minimum guarantee for each state to 0.25 percent. or 0.45 percent for states that have an international border. and by requiring that the State Homeland Security Grant Program. the Urban Area Security Initialive and the Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention program be distributed based on 16 threat criteria. This will ensure that Texans are not receiving $32.59 less per capita than citizens in Wyoming. H.R. 1544 will also require states to develop 3year homelandsecurity plans for enhancing their preparedness and response capabilities. and it requires all applicants. which will be expanded in this bill to also include regional organizations in addition to state agencies. to be consistent with the plan. I strongly support these provisions because it will allow funding to go directly to the communities that need it most. rather than being funneled through the state. and it requires that applicants specify how their grant fits into the plan. Over the past several years there have .been numerous reports of states spending homeland security grant dollars on items such. as traffic cones in Des Moines. airconditioned garbage trucks in Newark. NJ. and bulletproof vests for dogs in Columbus. Ohio. A recent report about Texas found that the Texas Engineering. Extension Service. the agency which distributes Homeland Security funds in Texas. was not providing proper oversight and cities and counties were spending this money on questionable items. This is not how Homeland Security dollars were intended to be spent. and this bill will cut down on the frivolous and excessive spending that has taken place with this money over the past 3 years. I Mr. Chairman. because this bill creates a formula to distribute grant money based on threat criteria. because it provides for better oversight of spending. and because it allows regional organizations as well as states to* apply for grant funding. I strongly support this bill and would urge my colleagues to do the same.