Administration takes swipes at first-responder bill

The Bush administration is objecting to a House bill written by Homeland Security Chairman Chris Cox, R-Calif., to revamp the funding formula for first responders, including a carefully negotiated provision to increase funding for border states.

The Homeland Security Department said while it appreciates that Cox's bill would allocate funding on the basis of risk and threat rather than population, the department still has problems with Cox's new formula, according to a copy of "informal comments" obtained by CongressDaily. Cox's panel approved the first-responder bill Thursday by voice vote.

The department said it supports the bill's minimum funding level of 0.25 percent for each state but opposes applying the minimum amount to all three first-responder grant programs. The administration's fiscal 2006 budget proposal called for each state to receive 0.25 percent of only one pot of money. The department's comments did not address a similar Senate version, but that measure would apply a 0.55 percent minimum -- and up to 3 percent for larger states -- to all first-responder grants. The department has been publicly silent on the two versions.

The department also said it objects to a provision that would authorize a larger minimum -- 0.45 percent -- if the state adjoins a body of water or shares a border with another country. "[S]uch geographic factors are a crude proxy for risk," the department argued. Cox worked vigorously last year with Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, to reach agreement on his first responder bill. After months of negotiations, they agreed to the 0.45 percent compromise. Without the language, Young threatened to block the legislation and rally the Transportation and Infrastructure panel members against it.

The department objected to allowing local Indian tribes to apply for first-responder grants, saying it "firmly supports applications through states as this allows for more strategic planning for the distribution of federal homeland security funds."

The department also said Cox's bill would create "extra layers of bureaucracy" by establishing a task force of first responders and an interagency first-responder grant board. "The [task force] duplicates work that has already been developed and, in some instances, adopted by the department, while the [grants board] would undoubtedly slow down the grants making process," the document said.

Department officials said the measure would create "onerous reporting requirements" for states and local communities as well as the department. Cox has argued the reporting requirements would help curb reports of first responders using the funding for products unrelated to terrorism. Officials have told lawmakers that numerous government audits have not found systemic abuses that "justify the paperwork this bill would impose."