U.S. SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY

Senate Vote Upholds
Leahy 1^st Responder Formula
That Would Assure At Least $10 M. To Vermont

WASHINGTON (Wednesday, Sept. 15) – Rejecting President Bush’s bid to repeal Sen. Patrick Leahy’s funding formula for first responder grants, the U.S. Senate late Tuesday night upheld the Leahy all-state-minimum formula, which has brought more than $40 million to Vermont’s police, firefighters and rescue squads in the last two years.  

Unless overridden this fall by other bills to repeal the Leahy formula, the Senate’s vote will ensure at least $10 million in grants to Vermont’s first responders in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. 

“Every state has basic preparedness needs, and the Bush Administration’s attempts to pit state against state by shortchanging first responders is cynical, it is shortsighted, and it jeopardizes the safety of our citizens,” said Leahy. 

The Leahy formula was retained in the annual funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, which passed the Senate close to midnight in a vote of 93 to 0.  The bill now goes to conference with a counterpart bill passed by the House, which also retains the Leahy formula.  Leahy, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and also a member of the panel’s Subcommittee on Homeland Security, will be a conferee on the bill. 

This was the latest victory this year in defending the funding formula for the program that assures all states – small and large – basic help meeting domestic preparedness needs.  Under Leahy’s formula, which he wrote into the charter for the program in 2001, each state receives .75 percent of the program’s allotment, and 80 percent of a state’s funds must be passed on to local first-responder agencies.  A separate account funds the needs of high-target, high-density states, like New York.  Without the Leahy all-state minimum, first responders in small states like Vermont would be assured of no help, despite federal calls for them to increase their preparations for domestic security. 

President Bush proposed repealing the Leahy formula in his February budget plan.  A bill authored by Rep. Chris Cox (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, also would eliminate the Leahy formula.  Leahy’s formula so far has withstood each test, but more are expected before the end of the year.  New measures were introduced this month as Congress considers ways to implement the findings of the 9-11 Commission, and one leading bill would repeal the Leahy formula. 

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