IAFC: Proposed FEMA grant program cuts are “draconian”

Fire Chief Rhonda Mae Kerr, International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) president and chair of the board, testified on Tuesday that the agency is greatly concerned about the Obama administration’s “draconian” cuts to FEMA’s grant program in the FY 2017 budget proposal.

Kerr testified before the House Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response and Communications, chaired by Rep. Dan Donovan (R-NY). Donovan has been vocal in his opposition to the proposed cuts since the newly proposed budget was announced.

“In the wake of an evolving terrorist threat, now is not the time to break a system that works,” Kerr said. “The American taxpayers have spent more than $40 billion since 9/11 on grant programs to improve the nation’s preparedness and response system. Overall, this funding has been spent wisely to make the nation safer. By using the State Homeland Security Grant and the UASI programs, state and local governments have been able to develop terrorism-preparedness capabilities that did not exist before 9/11.”

Kerr said that local jurisdictions have used grant funds to build and staff intelligence fusion centers, develop mass-casualty response units and construct regional interoperable-communications networks. She added that the IAFC as a whole opposes attempts to convert the Assistance to Firefighters and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant programs into terrorism-preparedness programs.