DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- The president of the International Association of Fire Fighters blasted the Bush administration Thursday, saying fire departments are seriously underfunded and understaffed.
Giving the keynote speech at the union's state convention, Harold Schaitberger focused on politics, openly promoting John Kerry as the union's choice for president in November. The union represents 263,000 firefighters.
Schaitberger, who also serves as a national co-chair for Kerry's campaign, spoke from a podium that prominently displayed a Kerry for president poster.
``We are clearly understaffed in two-thirds of the departments in the country,'' Schaitberger said. ``Our staffing issues are critical. It's about our people being able to do their jobs safely and effectively, but it's also being able to provide the highest level of service to citizens who expect their lives to be protected.''
He said that even with a heightened threat from terrorists, federal funding for first responders' equipment and training continues to be bogged down in bureaucracy.
Schaitberger said the Bush administration eliminated grants for local fire departments through the federal Fire Act in budgets presented his first two years in office. The money was restored by Congress.
Next year's budget proposal cuts funding for local fire departments from $750 million to $500 million, a 33 percent reduction, he said.
He said cutting positions from a fire department is no different than cutting soldiers from a platoon.
``We would not send them abroad underequipped, understaffed, undertrained and we shouldn't ask our domestic warriors, our firefighters, to do any less,'' he said.
The Bush campaign said funding under the federal Fire Act has increased 400 percent since Bush took office.
Bush has awarded more than $1.1 billion in firefighter grants in the last three years, said campaign spokeswoman Merrill Hughes Smith.
Meanwhile, Schaitberger said the administration's budget proposal also would cut Homeland Security funding for first responders from $4.2 billion to $3.6 billion.
The Bush campaign said Kerry and his supporters have played politics with homeland security throughout the campaign with false attacks.
``His attacks on the president ignore the facts,'' Hughes Smith said in a statement. ``President Bush has funded homeland security at historic levels, as he's worked to make America safer and more secure.''
Bush has recommended $3.6 billion in Homeland Security funding for first responders in next year's budget, a significant increase over the $456 million provided by the Clinton administration's 2001 budget, Hughes Smith said.
Bush also has allocated more than $13 billion since 2001 to state and local law enforcement for use in counterterrorism preparedness efforts, she said.
Ottumwa Fire Capt. Jack Reed, the IAFF state president, said little additional funding has been provided for firefighters who would be the first to respond to a terrorist incident.
``I'm not sure that the public understands all the dynamics involved in firefighting, the need for personnel versus just having equipment, and the teamwork that's necessary to create a safe environment,'' Reed said.
