U.S. SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY

Leahy: Department Of Homeland Security
Writes $14 M. Check For Vermont’s First Responders

Leahy-Authored Formula Has Brought $54 M. To Vermont
In Domestic Preparedness Funds In Three Years

WASHINGTON (Tuesday, March 1) – Sen. Patrick Leahy announced Tuesday afternoon that the U.S. Department Of Homeland Security (DHS) has released more than $14 million to help Vermont’s first responders purchase life-saving equipment and to train and prepare for emergencies including potential terror-related scenarios.  Vermont has received more than $54 million from the DHS Office of Domestic Preparedness grant program since 2002, when Leahy took the lead in scripting the program’s first formal charter.

“September 11^th added to the responsibilities and risks of first responders in Vermont and across the country,” said Leahy.  “The resources that Vermont’s first responders have received to help them meet their new responsibilities have made our neighborhoods safer and our communities better prepared.  The Administration needs to understand that helping our first responders help us must remain a high priority, and I will do all I can to keep it that way.”

The funds will now be distributed through the Vermont Department of Public Safety to police departments, fire departments and rescue squads across the state, based on their applications for the funds. 

Vermont and other smaller states continue to benefit from the all-state minimum formula that Leahy wrote for this program in the USA PATRIOT Act – the anti-terrorism law enacted in October 2001 – ensuring each state a minimum of .75 percent of the total program funding.  In the past three years, the Leahy formula has brought $54,850,000 to Vermont's first responders.  In a similar three-year span prior to the enactment of the Leahy formula, Vermont received $1,161,000 under the program's previous funding formula.  Before Leahy’s new charter for the program was enacted, a majority of first responder grants were subject to distribution decisions that often did not consider basic needs in smaller states.  The Leahy formula has survived several attempts by the Bush Administration and others to repeal or scale it back.  

The new $14,326,139 in funding includes $9,304,415 from the State Homeland Security Grant Program, $3,383,424 from the DHS Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program, $118,120 from the DHS Citizen Corps Grant Program, and $1,520,181 from the Emergency Management Performance Grant Program.  The Law Enforcement Terrorism Prevention Program helps Vermont’s police officers detect, deter, disrupt and prevent acts of terrorism.  The Citizen Corps, a component of USA Freedom Corps, was created in January 2002 to help coordinate volunteer activities to make our communities safer and better prepared to respond to emergency situations.  The Emergency Management Performance Grant Program funds will aid the Vermont Emergency Management Agency in the planning, coordinating, exercise design, public education, and response to and recovery from actual incidents.

President Bush’s 2006 budget proposes reducing first responder funds by 20 percent nationwide, including an annual 70 percent reduction in Vermont’s share of funding.  Leahy has pledged to fight to restore the funding when Congress debates the budget.

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