|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
U.S. Response II: Weldon Urges Domestic Responders to Get Political By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire U.S. local and state responders to terrorist attacks with weapons of mass destruction need to assert themselves more intensely in the nation’s political process, U.S. Representative Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), said yesterday. “What you have to now do is respectfully demand that government respond, that we give you the tools and resources that you may need to deal with the threats that you may face in your states, counties, cities and towns,” he told some 1,600 firefighters, emergency medical personnel and other responders from around the country. They were gathered for a chemical emergency responder conference in Baltimore run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “We’ve got a lot of pressures in Washington, in Baltimore, Harrisburg, and Trenton, all the other state capitals. You have to make the process work for you,” he said. Weldon urged the responders to establish personal contact with respective congressional staffers handling homeland defense issues, informing them about what is needed. He advocated greater local responder access to applicable new technologies developed for the military and increased radio frequency spectrum space to encourage better communication after an incident. He also compared some $30 million in federal dollars last year spent on domestic responders to $317 billion in military spending this year and $4 billion spent on law enforcement, both of which he supported. “To protect America, it’s going to cost money,” said Weldon, who is himself a former firefighter and fire chief. The USA Patriot Act, signed into law in October, appropriated $25 million each year through 2007 for responder equipment and training (see GSN, Oct. 26) and the House version of the fiscal 2002 defense appropriations bill has an increase in funding of $1 billion for a grant program for firefighters and other first responders. “The money should not go to federal agencies to build bigger bureaucracies, because the first responder on any incident in America … is not going to be [the Federal Emergency Management Agency], the National Guard, … EPA,” Weldon said. “The first responder is always going to be the fireman, [the emergency medical technician], the law enforcement person on that first-in vehicle. “If you don’t hold [lawmakers] accountable, then don’t expect them to respond,” he said.
| ||||||||||
Back to top
