Taking aim at programs they call ill-managed, underperforming and lacking a beneficial return on investment, the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Subcommittee—with Department of Homeland Security fiscal year 2012 budget oversight—announced its proposed allocations.
The Assistance to Firefighters Grants and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants, each funded at $405 million in 2011, would receive $200 million and $150 million, respectively. The U.S. Fire Administration would see a $3.05 million reduction from 2011 to $42.54 million, while the Federal Emergency Management Agency would see $5.3 billion, $1.9 billion less than last year.
A total of $1 billion would be appropriated to fund the State Homeland Security Program, Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI), Metropolitan Medical Response System, Interoperable Emergency Communications Grants and five other programs, distributed at the secretary’s discretion. UASI funds would be restricted to the top 10 highest-risk urban areas. Funding for Urban Search and Rescue would remain the same, at $35.25 million.
Links to the budget documents are at appropriations.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=300.
Dedicated EMS and Trauma Funds Sought
A bipartisan effort by House members Michael Burgess (R-Texas) and Gene Green (D-Texas) would have $28 million for trauma and EMS programs included in the fiscal year 2012 budget. The representatives, in asking their colleagues to sign their letter of request to the House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, point out that although the funding is already authorized by the Public Health Service Act, there still is no dedicated federal funding for EMS and trauma programs. Authorization bills create programs with proposed funding levels, but appropriations bills must be passed to make the funds available for spending.
The House members would like the money to be allocated as follows: $11 million each for Trauma Care Center and Trauma Service Availability Grants and $3 million each for Trauma Systems Planning Grants and Regionalization of Emergency Care Pilots.
At least one organization took up the cause. Advocates for EMS urged its members to send their representatives letters requesting they join the effort to fund the programs.
National Wildland Fire Strategy Released
With wildland fires presenting an ever-increasing threat to life and property, the federal government released in March “A National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy.” The document identifies the challenges presented by wildland fire management across the country and presents goals, performance measures and plans for implementing the national strategy.
The report and its companion, “The Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act of 2009—A Report to Congress,” provide a three-phase strategic effort to restore and maintain resilient landscapes; engage communities in creating fire-adapted areas resistant to wildfire threats; and bring together local and federal wildfire responders to collaboratively develop wildland fire response methods. The next phase will be the development of regional goals, objectives, and assigned actions and activities. The final phase will translate the data collected in the second phase into quantitative models to inform management action on the ground. The finalized strategy will be implemented nationally and overseen by the Wildland Fire Executive Council, which reports to the secretary of the interior and secretary of agriculture, with a five-year review cycle.
The establishment of a national wildland fire management strategy was called for by the Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act of 2009. The documents were produced by the Wildland Fire Leadership Council, an intergovernmental committee convened by the secretaries of the interior, agriculture and homeland security departments. The strategy document is at forestsandrangelands.gov/strategy/documents/reports/1_CohesiveStrategy03172011.pdf; the report to Congress is at forestsandrangelands.gov/strategy/documents/reports/2_ReportToCongress03172011.pdf.
Training a Nation of Advocates
EMS organizations’ lobbying efforts on the Hill will receive a boost from a program launched by the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) that will train state advocacy coordinators in every state in the nation.
The goal is two-fold: to ensure that more EMS professionals learn about the federal issues that affect them; and to create advocates who will visit their congressional representatives in their district offices and communicate the importance of those issues. “It’s really to get the EMS professionals engaged in the way that other professions in public safety have been engaged,” says NAEMT Executive Director Pamela Lane. “We can increase the level of engagement of those in the EMS profession, and that’s what NAEMT aims to do. Because the more people are talking about issues, the more members of Congress will listen.”
Lane says the new program will complement the work of NAEMT and other EMS organizations in Washington, D.C., from EMS on the Hill Day to work on the field EMS legislation bill and other lobbying efforts. “We’ve been doing a lot of great work, but it’s been primarily the leadership of the Association,” she says. “In order to be truly effective in terms of advocacy efforts, it’s got to be grass-roots. That’s when our voice becomes powerful. It’s not just a few speaking for EMS, but it’s a lot of people in lots of different states all over the country speaking for EMS.”
