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Firehouse.Com News
The Senate followed the House today (July 24) in passing the Senate passing the Supplemental Appropriations Conference Report that includs an additional $150 million in federal funding for FEMA's Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, often referred
to as the FIRE Act. Late Tuesday the House of Representatives passed the
same bill that included identical funding by a vote of 397 to 32.
The bill is primarily for the purpose of 'recovery from and response to
terrorist attacks on the United States.'
It is now up to President Bush to accept and sign it which he is expected to
do. The $150 million would then be available for FEMA to disburse.
It would raise the amount of money available for this second round of the
FIRE Act Grant program to $510 million from the $360 million the program is
now planning to disburse by December 31.
This means that as many as 2,000 additional grant applications could receive
funding according to Marko Bourne, USFA Executive Assistant for
Communications. It is expected the money currently available will fund about
5,500 grants.
Of the money available, $150 million must be awarded by September 30, 2002
because it was appropriated in a FY2002 budget. An additional $210 million
was appropriated this spring in a FY2003 budget and the $150 million now
being voted on is also a FY2003 budget appropriation, available through
September 30, 2003.
The FEMA Grant Program Office has always said it will award all available
funds by the end of 2002. "Our goal all along is all the money we have for
this program this year will go out the door by the end of the calendar year
and we will are going to continue to hold ourselves to that goal," Bourne
said.
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