DHS Funding Games Impact Local First Responder Grants
(WASHINGTON) – Today, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security, released the below statement on the current state of funding for the Department of Homeland Security and the impact on grant funding. Earlier today, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson released a statement on the matter.
As Secretary Johnson underscored today, the appropriations crisis that the Department of Homeland Security is enduring has wide-scale impacts well beyond Washington. The ability for state and local governments across this country to maintain core emergency preparedness has been severely undermined by the unpredictability of DHS funding. Until a clean full year appropriations bill is passed, no new homeland security grants, FIRE grants, or Emergency Management Performance Grants can be funded. The first responders in our districts rely on these grants to support critical equipment, training, and security technologies for emergency management, law enforcement, and other first responders. I urge my colleagues to return to regular order, pass a clean bill, and stop trying to run out the clock on this game of chicken with the President.
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