“We’re at our highest threat level since 9/11,” said Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), chairman of the full committee. “Despite this growing threat, the president’s budget falls short where we need it the most. . We cannot let these cuts stand.”
“All of us on the committee should stand as one . realizing how vital this is,” said Rep. Peter T. King (R., N.Y.).
Under the administration’s proposed FY 2017 budget, the Federal Emergency Management Agency would get $200 million for the State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSGP), $330 million for the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), and $670 million for firefighter grants. In FY 2016, those programs received $467 million, $600 million, and $690 million, respectively.
The first witness at today’s hearing was New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D.). He stressed the terrorist threats that his city faces and said that UASI funding “is crucial to our continued safety,” both in enabling planning and response. He also stressed that funding previously allocated but not yet spent is in the pipeline to be spent.
“My message today is simple and urgent: We need the Congress to do its part to protect New York City and, in fact, all of the United States from security threats,” he said. “That’s why I’m deeply concerned about the proposed fiscal year ’17 budget cuts to UASI.” Rep. Payne asked Mr. de Blasio for his view on Congress’s requirement that the T-band be vacated, including by public safety.
The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 requires the FCC to reallocate and auction public safety spectrum in the T-band by 2021 and relocate incumbents by 2023. Proceeds from the auction can be used to cover the relocation costs of public safety licensees. But the law doesn’t say anything about relocating non-public safety licensees. “T-band is a critical part of the work we do in terms of emergency communications,” the mayor replied. Disrupting the use of that spectrum “could prove to be very dangerous,” he added.
He said Congress should reverse its requirement that the spectrum be auctioned “because we do fear the consequences otherwise.”
Mr. Payne called the congressional requirement concerning the T-band “very troubling.”
A second panel of witnesses at today’s hearing featured state and local officials, most of whom represented national public safety groups. Jim Butterworth, director of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency/Homeland Security who testified on behalf of the National Emergency Management Association, said the proposed homeland security grant cuts would impact “the operational capabilities at the state and local level.”
As terrorism attacks continue, “this is not the time to scale back these efforts,” he added, complaining that programs that have received funding
annually will now only get money every two or three years.
“The IAFC is greatly concerned by the Administration’s FY 2017 budget proposal,” said Rhoda Mae Kerr, chief of the Austin Fire Department and president and board chair of the International Association of Fire Chiefs. “It would include draconian cuts to the SHSGP and UASI program. Also, it would attempt to re-classify the AFG [Assistance to Firefighters Grants] programs as homeland security grants.
“Additionally, the new budget would remove many of the separate accounts funding these programs and combine them under a new ‘Federal Assistance’ account,” she added. “Considering the growing threat of coordinated, complex attacks sponsored by foreign terrorist groups, we ask Congress to
reject the Administration’s budget proposal. Now is not the time to break a system that works.”
George Turner, chief of the Atlanta Police Department who testified on behalf of the Major Cities Chiefs Police Association (MCCA), of which he is second vice president, said the grant cuts would thwart progress made since the Department of Homeland Security was established “and leave local agencies like mine on the fence to fend for themselves.”
Rep. Payne complained that the Interoperable Emergency Communications Grant Program (IECGP) had not received funding in years, and he asked the witnesses whether that had hurt interoperability efforts and whether the further proposed grant cuts would make matters worse.
The witnesses said it had and they would. Funding cuts have “led to a failure in communications as a whole,” said Sgt. W. Greg Kierce, director of the Jersey City Office of Emergency Management & Homeland Security.
Lawmakers and witnesses today mentioned a letter from 17 stakeholder groups opposing the proposed grant cuts. The Feb. 22 letter to the chairmen and ranking members of the House Appropriations Committees and its homeland security subcommittee asked Congress to “fund these critical programs at least at FY 2016 funding levels. At a time of heightened concern about terrorism and violent extremism at home, increased funding would certainly be justified,” the groups said.
Among those signing onto the letter were the IAFC, International Association of Fire Fighters, MCCA, Major County Sheriffs’ Association, National Association of Counties, National League of Cities, National Sheriffs’ Association, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Meanwhile, Rep. Payne and Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) wrote House and Senate appropriators today to urge them to allocate at least $600 million for UASI grants for FY 2017. “The proposed cuts to this program do not reflect the needs of urban areas, which are proposed at a time when more attention is needed to adapt to a changing threat environment in the wake of the events in San Bernardino, CA, Garland, TX and Aurora, CO,” they said.
During today’s hearing, Rep. Kathleen Rice (D., N.Y.) asked Mr. de Blasio for his view on the encryption dispute between Apple, Inc., and federal authorities. The mayor replied that he believes “there is a compromise that can be struck. “I think the companies do owe it to the nation to come up with a procedure for providing that information to law enforcement,” he said, stressing that a court warrant should be required for that data. “I couldn’t agree with you more,” said Ms. Rice, a former prosecutor.-
Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com
Courtesy TRDaily