Leahy Secures $2 Million For Vermont Preparedness
Against Terrorist Acts

WASHINGTON (Mon., Dec. 3) – Sen. Patrick Leahy made sure that the recently enacted anti-terrorism bill included charters for grant programs to the states for domestic preparedness. Now he has secured the funding for those programs, including more than $2 million that Vermont will use to help respond to and prevent future terrorist acts. Some of the funds were included in the 2002 fiscal year appropriations bill for the Departments of Commerce, Justice and State, which President Bush signed Nov. 28.

Leahy chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and headed Senate negotiations that produced the anti-terrorism package. He also is a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and its Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary, which oversaw the writing of the budget bill that includes these funds.

"We cannot expect to prevent future terrorist attacks with antiquated equipment and without adequate training for our response teams," said Leahy.

The State of Vermont will receive two Department of Justice grants totaling at least $915,000 for fiscal year 2002: The State and Local Domestic Preparedness Equipment Grant Program will award Vermont a minimum of $840,000 to purchase equipment to protect emergency response teams from chemical and biological agents. Funding from fiscal years 2000 and 2001 ($375,000 and $383,000 respectively) from this grant program have not been disbursed to Vermont yet.

Vermont will receive at least $75,000 through the State and Local Domestic Preparedness Planning Grant Program for training and technical assistance to enhance Vermont’s preparedness to respond to domestic terrorist activities. Vermont and other smaller states are benefitting from a small-state minimum set-aside that Leahy added for these programs in the anti-terrorism bill, ensuring each state a minimum of .75 percent of the total program funding.

The Vermont Department of Public Safety will gain $750,000 through the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Technology Grant Program. The funding will be spent on mobile communications upgrades. Leahy has secured $5.5 million to date for communications upgrades for Vermont’s Public Safety Department.

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