Presidential Budget Generous to Fire Fighters

February 14, 2012 – President Obama has proposed nearly $3 billion for first responders in his budget for Fiscal Year 2013, including $670 million for the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) and Assistance to Firefighters (FIRE Act) grant programs. In addition, the president’s budget proposes an additional $1 billion in immediate assistance for SAFER under a new First Responder Stabilization Fund.

Specifically, the proposal includes $335 million each for both SAFER and FIRE Act grants. Although funding for the two programs is essentially unchanged from Fiscal Year 2012, the inclusion of $1 billion in immediate SAFER funds will help ensure local fire departments receive a much-needed infusion of funds as they struggle to emerge from the recent recession. The proposal also reaffirms the administration’s commitment to preventing and reversing fire fighter layoffs by extending the SAFER waivers.

“I applaud the president for his continuing commitment to securing the livelihoods and well-being of fire fighters,” says IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger. “His budget will not only help put more fire fighters on the job today, but will give local communities the vital assistance they need to help jump-start our nation’s economy.”

Earlier this month, President Schaitberger joined President Obama and local fire fighters in Arlington, Virginia, to preview his budget proposal and introduce a new initiative to hire post-9/11 veterans as local fire fighters.

The president’s budget also combines a number of first responder grant programs, including the Urban Area Security Initiative and the State Homeland Security Grant Program, into a new National Preparedness Grant Program, allowing states and localities to fund a wider variety of prevention, response and recovery activities.

The president’s budget proposal will now go to Capitol Hill. As Congress endeavors in the coming months to produce its budget for Fiscal Year 2013, the IAFF will work with its allies to well-fund the SAFER and FIRE Act grant programs and secure continued robust investments in the nation’s first responders.