John Sarbanes: “the budget submitted by the President reduces funding for grants to local police, fire and emergency medical agencies…”

“the budget submitted by the President reduces funding for grants to local police, fire and emergency medical agencies from $4.2 billion in the current fiscal year to $3.5 billion in fiscal year 2005, a very substantial cut. This cut comes despite a June 2003 report entitled ``Emergency Responders Drastically Underfunded, Dangerously Unprepared,'' issued by a commission headed by our former colleague, Senator Warren Rudman of New Hampshire. The title of that report, again, is ``Emergency Responders Drastically Underfunded, Dangerously Unprepared.'' The President's budget for the firefighter grant program, which provides this badly needed equipment, asks for $500 million. We appropriated $750 million in this year's budget and in the previous year's budget. Yet the President is cutting that figure by one-third. The President's budget provides no funding for the SAFER Act, which this Congress passed last fall, and which provides State, local, and regional agencies with funds to hire firefighters, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, rescue workers, ambulance personnel, and hazardous material workers for local fire departments. These fire departments desperately need these funds. The question is then, as the Senator pointed out, how will they be paid for? Well, the tax cuts that have been received by the top 1 percent are $45 billion annually.…”