Subject: [NEXTEL-1] DHS ESTABLISHES TASK FORCE TO STUDY FIRST-RESPONSE FUNDS

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 13:29:30 -0500

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LEGISLATION
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DHS ESTABLISHES TASK FORCE TO STUDY FIRST-RESPONSE FUNDS

The Department of Homeland Security announced today that it was
establishing a task force to study ways federal funding can get to
first  responders more quickly.  The task force, which will include
representatives of states, counties, cities, and tribes, will examine
how  to replicate the successful distribution of funding in areas where
money has been slow to trickle down to agencies that need it.

"The Department of Homeland Security shares the concerns of
communities anticipating these funds," DHS Secretary Tom Ridge
said in a statement.  "It is critical that the men and women on the
front lines of the war against terror have the resources they need to do

their jobs.  By identifying best practices and determining ways to
implement them across the country, the task force will put homeland
security dollars into the hands of first responders more rapidly."

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R.) will chair the task force, while
Akron, Ohio Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic (D.) will serve as vice
chair.  It will operate under the guidance of DHS's Homeland Security
Advisory Council and its State and Local Officials and Emergency
Response Senior Advisory committees.  DHS said Mr. Ridge expects
recommendations from the task force and council within two months.

In a related development, Democratic presidential candidate John
Kerry and the president of the International Association of Fire
Fighters today criticized the Bush administration's support for first
responders and said a leadership change in the White House was
necessary.

"Two-and-a-half years after 9/11, fire departments only have enough
radios for half their firefighters and almost two-thirds of firehouses
are  short-staffed - with more firefighters and police officers being
laid
off," the Massachusetts senator told the firefighters group in an
address at its legislative conference in Washington.  "First defenders
still can't radio each other in emergency situations."

Mr. Kerry said he supported additional funding for the FIRE Act and
direct funding to agencies "so that local firefighters and other first
defenders don't have to settle for the leftovers that filter down to
them through layer upon layer of bureaucracy."

IAFF General President Harold A. Schaitberger said his union had
tried to work with both Republicans and Democrats in Congress but
had been rebuffed in its attempts to work with the Bush administration.
"We need a president who gives us action, not photo ops," he said,
complaining that about $250 million had been cut in FIRE Act grants
and other programs that aid first responders had seen reductions in the
hundreds of millions of dollars.  The union was the first to endorse
Sen. Kerry. - Paul Kirby, [email-masked]

http://www.tr.com/online/trd/2004/td031504/index.htm

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